Chapter 3: Two Recordings, One Dead Man
The hospital room smelled of disinfectant, clean linen, and the coffee someone had forgotten on the windowsill.
Sunlight poured through the large windows, illuminating Emma's face as she sat propped against white pillows. A nurse had cleaned the scrape on her arm and checked her breathing. The doctors wanted to monitor her after the incident in the pool, especially because no one knew what Victoria had placed in the vial.
The vial itself sat inside a sealed evidence bag on a counter nearby.
Emma had refused to let anyone discard it.
Marcus stood beside the window, wearing borrowed gray sweatpants and a hospital T-shirt. His damp hair had dried into uneven curls, and his trimmed beard framed a jaw clenched so tightly that Emma could see the muscle twitch.
He hadn't kissed her since they arrived.
He hadn't accused her of anything, either.
That silence hurt more.
Finally, Emma spoke.
“Marcus, come sit down.””
He turned.
“I'm listening.””
“No, you're standing by the window looking at me like you're waiting for me to become someone else.””
He dragged a chair beside her bed.
“I just heard my dead father ask your father for help.””
“I know.””
“And my mother says your father killed him.””
“I know what she said.””
“Then tell me what you know.””
Emma took a breath.
“My father worked with yours on financial audits for a company called Cross Meridian Holdings. They were partners before your father became chief executive.””
Marcus nodded slowly.
“I've heard the name.””
“They handled investments, property acquisitions, and private family accounts. When I was sixteen, my father came home one night and told my mother he was leaving town for a while.””
“Why?””
“He wouldn't say. He told me he was protecting us.””
“Did he tell you about the money?””
Emma shook her head.
“Not then. Years later, I found a flash drive in an old suitcase. It contained account numbers and transaction dates. Some of the transfers were connected to shell companies.””
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because I didn't know whether the records were genuine. I was studying forensic accounting. I wanted to verify everything before I accused anyone.””
Marcus leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
“And you never thought to mention that the records involved my family?””
“I thought the accounts might be unrelated. I was wrong.””
He looked down at his hands.
“Have you shown them to anyone?””
“No.””
“Not even your father?””
“He told me to leave them alone.””
Marcus rubbed his face.
“Emma, you understand how this looks.””
“Yes.””
“My father is dead. Your father disappeared. My mother has a recording that makes it sound as though they were involved in something terrible, and now she says you were sent to get close to me.””
Emma felt tears sting her eyes.
“I fell in love with you before I knew how much money your family controlled.””
“I believe you want me to believe that.””
She recoiled.
He immediately looked ashamed.
“I'm sorry,” he said.
“That came out wrong.””
“No. It came out exactly how you feel.””
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Marcus reached for her hand.
“When we met at the charity auction, you corrected the auctioneer because he'd miscalculated the value of a painting.””
Emma managed a faint smile.
“He was off by forty thousand dollars.””
“You could have let it go.””
“You looked like you were about to bid on it.””
“I was.””
“And I didn't want you overpaying.””
Marcus gave a quiet, broken laugh.
“You told me that honesty was cheaper than cleaning up a lie.””
“It usually is.””
“I've been thinking about that ever since.””
He held her hand more tightly.
“I want to believe you. I just don't know what to believe anymore.””
Emma turned toward the evidence bag.
“Then we find out what happened.””
A knock sounded at the door.
Elena Ruiz entered, carrying a tablet and a small paper cup of coffee.
Marcus stood.
“You followed us?””
“I came because I found something before the police arrived at the mansion.””
Elena shut the door.
“The pool cover's control panel recorded a fault shortly before Emma fell in. The system was operating in automatic mode, but someone had overridden the safety interlock.””
Marcus's expression hardened.
“Who had access?””
“Three people. Me, the estate maintenance supervisor, and your mother.””
“My mother said it was an equipment malfunction.””
“It wasn't.””
Elena placed the tablet on the bedside table.
“The maintenance supervisor says he didn't touch it. I've already given his statement to investigators. I'm not making accusations without proof, but the override was entered using an administrator credential assigned to Mrs. Cross.””
Marcus stared at the screen.
“Could someone have used her credentials?””
“Yes.””
“Could she have been framed?””
Elena paused.
“That's possible. But the system logs show the command was entered from the security terminal in her private sitting room.””
Emma's stomach tightened.
Victoria had known exactly where Emma would be standing when the cover began to close.
Marcus paced to the window.
“Why would she do this?””
Elena looked at him.
“Perhaps because she knew Emma had discovered something.””
Emma felt the room go still.
She had not told Elena about the flash drive.
But she had told Marcus.
And if someone had been listening to their conversations, the secret was no longer a secret.
“There's more,” Elena said.
“I recovered a security audio file from the mansion system. It was partially overwritten, but I restored a section.””
She connected the tablet to the room's speaker.
A man's voice filled the room.
Daniel Cross.
“Victoria, I know about the transfers. The accounts don't match. If Marcus finds out—”
A woman's voice answered.
“You promised me you would keep him out of it.””
“I'm trying to protect my son.””
“Then stop asking questions.””
The recording crackled.
Daniel's voice returned, louder now.
“Richard knows. He has the original ledger. If anything happens to me, he promised to—”
The audio stopped abruptly.
Emma gripped the edge of the bed.
Marcus stood motionless.
“That's not the same recording my mother played.””
“No,” Elena said.
“It's longer. And it contains a different section.””
“Where did you get it?””
“The mansion security server. The file had been marked for deletion.””
Marcus looked at Emma.
“Your father had the original ledger?””
“I didn't know that,” Emma whispered.
He stepped away from the bed.
“Do you understand what this means? My mother has been telling me for twenty years that Dad died in an accident. Now we have two recordings, and both of them have been altered or selectively preserved.””
“Marcus, I'm not hiding anything else from you.””
He stopped beside the door.
“I want to believe that.””
“Then don't let her decide what you believe.””
His eyes met hers.
For one fragile second, she saw the man who had jumped into the pool without thinking about his own safety.
Then his phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
His face changed.
“It's my mother.””
Elena shook her head.
“Don't answer.””
Marcus accepted the call anyway and placed it on speaker.
Victoria's voice sounded calm and almost affectionate.
“Darling, I've been waiting for you to call.””
“Where did you get the second phone?””
“Your father's personal effects.””
“You told me those were destroyed.””
“I told you what I needed to tell you at the time.””
Marcus closed his eyes briefly.
“Did you override the pool cover?””
A pause.
Then Victoria sighed.
“You're asking the wrong question.””
“Answer me.””
“The right question is why Emma came into our family carrying your father's secrets.””
Emma leaned toward the phone.
“Why did you give me that vial?””
Victoria's voice softened.
“Because I wanted to see whether you'd protect Marcus or destroy him.””
“What's in it?””
“Ask your father what he put in the original ledger.””
Marcus grabbed the phone.
“Stop threatening her!””
“I'm trying to save you, Marcus. If you marry that woman, you will lose everything your father built.””
“You don't get to decide whom I marry.””
“I already decided whom you should have married. I simply underestimated how much you would disappoint me.””
The call ended.
Elena immediately saved the recording.
Marcus stared at the phone as though it had become something poisonous.
Then he looked at Emma.
“Your father has to tell us what happened.””
Emma nodded.
“I'll call him.””
She reached for her phone and dialed Richard's number.
It rang once.
Twice.
On the third ring, someone answered.
But it wasn't her father.
A man's unfamiliar voice came through the speaker.
“Emma Vance?””
“Yes. Who is this?””
“This is Detective Harris. I'm with the county investigators.””
Emma sat up straighter.
“Is my father all right?””
There was a brief silence.
“We need you to come to the station. Your father has been located, and we have reason to believe he possesses evidence connected to Daniel Cross's death.””
Marcus moved closer.
Emma's fingers tightened around the phone.
“Is he under arrest?””
“Not yet.””
“Then why do you need me?””
The detective lowered his voice.
“Because Mr. Vance has identified the person who altered the original recording.””
Emma felt her pulse hammer in her throat.
“Who?””
The detective hesitated.
Then he said a name that made Marcus reach for the edge of the bed.
“Victoria Cross.””
May you like
But before Emma could respond, the detective added one more sentence.
“There's another problem. Your father says the recording we recovered today is genuine—but the voice accusing him of murder belongs to someone who died twelve years ago.””
