Chapter 14 - THE WALL BEHIND THE MOON
Lily’s old nursery had not been used in years.
After Caroline died, Mark could not bear to enter it.
He locked the door.
Staff dusted it only twice a year.
The room remained almost exactly as Caroline left it.
Pale walls.
White crib.
A wooden rocking chair.
Silver stars painted across the ceiling.
And a large crescent moon mural above the fireplace.
Samuel walked directly toward it.
“Caroline told me she created a hiding place.”
“Where?”
Samuel touched the edge of the painted moon.
“Behind this.”
Owen removed the panel carefully.
Inside the wall was a narrow recess.
Empty.
Mark stared.
“No.”
Samuel looked equally shocked.
“It was here.”
“What was?”
“A digital recorder.”
“Another one?”
“This one was different.”
“Adrian confessed.”
“To what?”
“To threatening Caroline.”
“To the financial scheme.”
Samuel paused.
“And possibly to sabotaging her car.”
Mark stared at the empty compartment.
“Who knew?”
“Caroline.”
“Me.”
“Maybe Lily.”
“She was three.”
“Caroline sometimes spoke to her while hiding things.”
Mark looked at Owen.
“Someone found it.”
Owen examined the panel.
“No dust disturbance.”
“This was opened recently.”
“How recently?”
“Days.”
Mark’s phone rang.
Ruiz.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Victoria wants to speak to you.”
“No.”
“She says she knows who took the nursery recording.”
Mark went to the detention center.
Victoria entered the interview room wearing county clothing.
No makeup.
Hair tied back.
For the first time since Mark met her, there was nothing polished about her.
He sat across from her.
“You have five minutes.”
Victoria looked at him.
“How is Lily?”
“You don’t get to ask that.”
She looked down.
“I know.”
“Who took the recorder?”
“My father.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“How?”
“He had access through Daniel.”
“Where is it?”
Victoria hesitated.
Mark stood.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
“My father didn’t destroy it.”
“Why not?”
“Because it protects him too.”
“How?”
“The recording includes another voice.”
“Whose?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Thomas Reed.”
Mark stared.
“Thomas was there?”
“According to my father.”
“Thomas knew about the threat against Caroline.”
Victoria nodded.
“More than he admitted.”
Mark left without another word.
Thomas was discharged from the hospital directly into federal custody.
Mark was allowed to observe another interview.
Ruiz placed a photograph of the nursery compartment on the table.
Thomas’s face collapsed.
“You knew.”
She said.
Thomas nodded.
“What was on the recorder?”
“Adrian threatening Caroline.”
“And?”
“Me.”
“What did you say?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“I told Caroline to stop.”
“Stop investigating?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Adrian had documents showing my involvement.”
“I thought if Caroline went to police, I would lose everything.”
Ruiz stared.
“So you chose yourself.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Adrian was going to damage her car?”
“No.”
“Did you know afterward?”
Thomas began breathing harder.
“I suspected.”
“That is not the question.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The morning she died.”
Mark’s hands clenched behind the glass.
Thomas continued.
“Adrian called me.”
“He said Caroline would not be a problem much longer.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Then she called you from the car.”
“Yes.”
“And you still did nothing.”
Thomas started crying.
“Yes.”
Ruiz leaned forward.
“Where is the recorder now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who does?”
“Adrian.”
“Anyone else?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Victoria.”
The interview stopped Mark cold.
Victoria had just claimed Adrian possessed it.
Either Thomas was lying.
Or Victoria was.
Ruiz confronted Victoria.
For the first time, Victoria asked for Mark to remain.
“I know where it is.”
She said.
“Why lie before?”
“Because if I tell you, my father will know I betrayed him.”
“He kidnapped Lily.”
“I know.”
“He was willing to kill her.”
Victoria began crying.
“I know.”
“Then choose.”
Victoria wiped her face.
“There is a storage unit in Queens.”
“My father keeps documents there.”
“The recorder is in a locked case.”
Ruiz obtained a warrant.
The unit existed.
The locked case existed.
The recorder did not.
Instead, officers found a cellphone.
It contained a recent video.
Adrian sat in darkness.
He looked older than his photographs.
Tired.
But calm.
“Mark.”
He said.
“If you are watching this, Victoria finally chose you over me.”
Victoria flinched beside Ruiz.
Adrian continued.
“She always was weak.”
“You want Caroline’s recording.”
“I want the red ledger.”
“You have twenty-four hours.”
“Bring it to the old Whitmore boathouse at Lake Briar.”
“No police.”
“No games.”
“If you refuse, the recording disappears.”
Mark almost laughed at the demand.
Adrian did not understand.
The ledger had already been copied.
Investigators had the evidence.
But Caroline’s final recording mattered for another reason.
Truth.
Not just prosecution.
Truth.
Adrian ended with one last sentence.
“And Mark?”
Mark leaned toward the screen.
“Ask yourself why Caroline never told you any of this while she was alive.”
The video ended.
For the first time, Mark allowed himself to confront a question he had avoided.
Caroline had trusted Samuel.
Sarah.
Even Richard, briefly.
She had hidden keys.
Ledgers.
Recordings.
May you like
But she had not told her husband.
Why?
