Chapter 5 - THE PAPER TRAIL
Marcus Reed didn't waste a second. He immediately keyed his radio, barking orders into the shoulder mic for three ambulances, forensic units, and backup cruisers to lock down the entire county road leading to the Carter property.
The deputy was sent down to the kitchen to safeguard Lily, while Marcus approached the bed, carefully checking Clara’s vital signs.
“You’re safe now, Clara,” Marcus said gently, his voice deep and reassuring. “You’re safe. I promise you.”
Clara gripped Marcus’s uniform sleeve with surprising strength for someone so frail. “The safe... Marcus. Inside the wall... there’s a lockbox under the floorboards where she kept her papers. Julian... Julian has the bearer bonds. Sarah found the offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. They were laundering money through Daniel’s firm!”
Daniel felt the floor drop out from under him. “My firm? Vanessa had Julian take over our commercial accounts after Sarah died. He said it was to relieve my stress!”
“It was a shell game, Dan,” Marcus said grimly. He turned to Daniel. “Where is Vanessa right now?”
“Locked in the guest room across the hall.”
Marcus unholstered his taser, signaling Daniel to stay back. He approached the guest room door, unlocking the brass deadbolt with one hand while keeping his weapon drawn.
“Vanessa Carter, this is Sheriff Reed. Step out with your hands visible!”
There was no sound from inside.
Marcus kicked the door open.
The room was empty.
The window overlooking the backyard porch roof was wide open. The white lace curtain fluttered gently in the autumn breeze. Down below, the lower trellis had been ripped from its mountings, splinters of painted wood scattered across the stone patio.
“She jumped,” Marcus cursed, rushing to the window. “She took the trellis down to the lower deck. Deputy! Perimeter alert! Suspect is on foot heading toward the tree line!”
Daniel rushed into the room, staring out into the dense woods behind his property. The Carter estate bordered two hundred acres of thick pine forest, leading down to the deep rocky ravine where Sarah’s body had been discovered over a year ago.
“She’s heading for the old service road,” Daniel said, his eyes narrowing. “There’s a cabin two miles out. An old logging shed that’s been abandoned for decades. If Julian is meeting her, that’s where they’d go.”
“We’ll set a perimeter,” Marcus said, pulling Daniel back by the shoulder. “You are staying here with Lily and Clara. You’re the victim here, Dan. Let my men handle this.”
“You don't understand the terrain back there, Marcus,” Daniel said, his jaw set like granite. “I grew up hunting those ridges with my father. Half the trails aren't on the county maps. If she slips through the ridge, she’ll reach the highway before your cruisers can even set up a roadblock.”
Before Marcus could argue, Clara’s weak voice echoed from the master bedroom.
“Daniel... the phone.”
Daniel ran back to Clara’s bedside. She was pointing trembling fingers toward the open wardrobe.
“She left her burner phone on the floor of the passage when you broke in,” Clara gasped. “It buzzed... right before Marcus walked in. A text message.”
Daniel squeezed back into the dark passage. Near the ruined mattress, half-buried under a blanket, lay a cheap prepaid burner phone. Its screen was illuminated with an incoming message from a contact saved only as *‘J’*.
Daniel swiped the screen. The message read:
May you like
*‘The asset transfer cleared. I have the papers and the offshore routing. Meet me at the mill bridge in twenty minutes. If she made noise, burn the house down and get out.’*
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