When I mentioned Sophia’s words about the desk, Chen looked at me.
“What desk?”
“My home office.”
“Did you touch it?”
“No.”
“Good.”
I wanted to go with them.
She refused.
“You’re exhausted, and this may be a crime scene. Let us do our jobs.”
That sentence probably kept me from making several mistakes.
I stayed at the hospital.
Richard disappeared before Chen finished taking Samuel’s statement.
He texted me once.
PLEASE LET ME EXPLAIN BEFORE YOU JUDGE ME.
I didn’t answer.
By early evening, investigators had secured our house.
The bleach hadn’t erased everything.
There were blood traces under the edge of the refrigerator and beneath the baseboard.
A broken lamp had been placed in our outside trash container beneath two garbage bags.
The bottom drawer of my desk had been forced open.
Inside was an empty padded envelope.
No flash drive.
But investigators found something else.
A handwritten note from Sophia.
If anything happens to me, check the blue cloud folder.
Underneath were credentials to an encrypted online storage account.
Chen called me back to the station the following morning.
Sophia remained hospitalized but stable.
Samuel had given a full statement.
And investigators had started reviewing the cloud folder.
“What’s in it?” I asked.
Chen slid a printed list toward me.
Bank records.
Company documents.
Loan agreements.
Emails.
Copies of signatures.
The documents all connected to Carter Freight Systems, the regional trucking and warehouse company Richard had run for almost thirty years.
Marcus worked there as chief operating officer.
Sophia had inherited a minority interest from her mother, Elise, who died eight years earlier.
I knew about the shares.
I did not know Sophia had begun investigating them.
Chen tapped one document.
“This is a loan guarantee.”
I read the amount.
$2.8 million.
Sophia’s name appeared near the bottom.
So did her signature.
“She never told me about this.”
“She says she never signed it.”
My eyes lifted.
“You spoke to her?”
“Briefly, with medical approval.”
Another document showed a second guarantee.
Then a property pledge involving a warehouse interest associated with Sophia’s inheritance.
The signatures looked convincing.
Too convincing.
“They used her name?”
“That’s what we’re investigating.”
“Who?”
Chen didn’t answer directly.
Instead, she opened an email.
