Chapter 4 - The Voice at 9:17
Nathan sounded terrified.
Not dramatic.
Not panicked.
Terrified.
"I started reviewing county contract accounts six months ago," his recorded voice continued. "At first I thought I was looking at billing fraud."
Leah pulled a chair closer.
Mina checked the file metadata.
Original creation date: fourteen hours before Nathan's murder.
Nathan continued.
"I was wrong."
Paper rustled in the recording.
"Money from seized-property auctions is being routed through subcontractors that don't exist. At least eleven million dollars over four years."
Peter whispered, "Nathan never told me any of this."
Leah raised a finger.
Listen.
"I traced three shell companies. All three connect to people inside the county."
Nathan paused.
"Rusk knows."
Then another voice appeared.
Faint.
Distant.
Someone knocking.
Nathan inhaled sharply.
The recording shifted.
Footsteps.
Then Rusk's voice.
Clear enough to recognize.
"You should've left it alone."
Peter stood so fast his chair fell backward.
"Oh my God."
Nathan responded.
"Get out of my house."
A second man's voice entered.
Calmer.
"Where are the copies?"
Leah looked at Mina.
"Can you isolate that?"
"Later."
The recording continued.
Nathan said, "If anything happens to me, people will know."
The second man laughed.
"No, they won't."
Something crashed.
Nathan shouted.
Then Chloe could be heard crying in the background.
Three years old.
"Baby, stay upstairs!" Nathan yelled.
Leah felt physically sick.
A struggle followed.
Heavy breathing.
Furniture scraping.
Then Nathan shouted one name.
"Adrian!"
Everything stopped.
Peter whispered, "Adrian who?"
Leah knew.
Everybody in the county knew.
District Attorney Adrian Kell.
The same prosecutor who had stood in front of Elena's jury and described her as a jealous wife who snapped during a domestic argument.
The same man who had personally requested the death penalty.
The recording erupted with noise.
A grunt.
A crash.
Then Nathan screamed.
After that came silence.
For six seconds.
Nine.
Twelve.
Then Rusk spoke again.
"She's coming home soon."
Kell answered.
"Then make it look right."
Leah couldn't move.
Rusk said, "The knife?"
"Kitchen."
"Prints?"
"Use one she's handled."
Peter turned away and vomited into a trash can.
The final thirty seconds were worse.
A door opened somewhere.
Nathan was still alive.
Barely.
He made a wet, painful sound.
Then Kell said, "Finish it."
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Mina finally whispered, "We need to authenticate this immediately."
Leah was already calling the court.
At 2:42 p.m., she filed an emergency motion to stay Elena Cole's execution based on newly discovered exculpatory evidence.
At 3:03, the attorney general's office requested a copy.
At 3:15, Adrian Kell appeared on local television.
Leah stared at the screen in disbelief.
The district attorney stood outside the courthouse surrounded by microphones.
"We have become aware of an alleged recording produced only hours before the lawful sentence against Elena Cole is to be carried out."
A reporter shouted, "Have you heard it?"
"I have been briefed."
"Your voice is allegedly on the recording."
Kell's face didn't move.
"The recording is an obvious fabrication."
Leah's phone rang.
Mina looked at her computer.
"Leah."
"What?"
"There's something wrong with the file."
Leah slowly lowered her phone.
"What do you mean?"
Mina enlarged the metadata.
"The recording was copied."
"From what?"
"I don't know yet."
"Does that make it fake?"
"No."
Mina's expression tightened.
"It means this isn't the original."
Leah looked at the blue phone.
"Then where is the original?"
Mina turned the screen toward her.
"The file was transferred onto this phone at 9:23 p.m."
Leah frowned.
Nathan had died around 9:30.
Mina pointed to another data field.
"And according to this..."
She stopped.
May you like
"What?"
"The device that transferred it belonged to someone inside the police department."
