Chapter 14 - THE LAST RECORDING
Helen swung the hammer into Grant’s knee.
He screamed.
The gun fired.
The bullet struck the ceiling.
Ethan tackled him.
Maya pulled her mother away.
Grant punched Ethan and reached for the gun.
Maya kicked it under the furnace.
Sirens screamed outside.
Grant looked toward the basement window.
He ran.
Ethan grabbed his coat.
Grant twisted free and slammed Ethan into the wall.
Then he climbed through the narrow window.
Police surrounded the yard.
“DOWN!”
Grant ran anyway.
He reached the back fence.
Ortiz tackled him herself.
They hit the ground.
Two officers restrained him.
For the first time since the stroller entered the pool, Maya felt something release inside her chest.
Grant was finally in handcuffs.
But he was still smiling.
Ortiz noticed.
“Why are you smiling?”
Grant spit blood into the grass.
“Because you still don’t have the recording.”
Maya frowned.
“What recording?”
Grant looked at her.
“Claire’s.”
Back inside, Helen revealed why Grant had come.
Three days before Claire’s fatal crash, she had visited Helen.
Claire had brought a flash drive.
“She told me if anything happened, I should hide it.”
Maya stared at her mother.
“You had it this whole time?”
“I didn’t know what was on it.”
“Where is it?”
Helen pointed upstairs.
“In the sewing room.”
The flash drive was hidden inside the base of an old lamp.
Ortiz plugged it into a police laptop.
One video file appeared.
Claire sat behind a desk.
Alive.
Nervous.
“If you are watching this, then I probably didn’t get the chance to finish what I started.”
Ethan covered his mouth.
Maya’s eyes filled.
Claire continued.
“Grant Mercer has been stealing from my family’s trusts. Vanessa Hale helped him process transfers.”
She listed account numbers.
Dates.
Companies.
Then her voice changed.
“But the money is not the most important part.”
Maya leaned closer.
Claire held up a printed message.
“Grant has threatened Oliver.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“He told Vanessa that once Ethan marries her, they will control access to my son and eventually control the Caldwell voting shares.”
Claire looked directly into the camera.
“If anything happens to me, do not believe it was an accident.”
Nobody moved.
Then Claire said one final thing.
“Maya, if you see this, I’m sorry I put this burden on you.”
Maya began crying.
“You are the only person in that house I trust completely with Oliver.”
The recording ended.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Ortiz’s phone buzzed.
She read the message.
“Vanessa wants to give a full confession.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Now?”
“She says Grant lied about one final thing.”
“What?”
Ortiz looked at him.
“Claire’s crash.”
Maya’s heart tightened.
“Grant cut the brake line.”
Ortiz shook her head.
“According to Vanessa, Grant planned it.”
“Then what did he lie about?”
Ortiz’s voice became quiet.
May you like
“He wasn’t the person who actually cut it.”
Vanessa claimed she was.
