Chapter 13 - WHAT EVELYN KNEW ABOUT DAVID
Evelyn's attorney arrived at the jail before sunrise carrying a yellow legal pad and the expression of a man who had stopped expecting good news.
The prosecutor joined by video.
Detective Alvarez sat in the interview room with her arms folded.
Evelyn had changed into county-issued clothing.
Without the cream coat, jewelry, and carefully styled hair, she looked smaller.
Not weaker.
Just stripped of the architecture she normally used to control a room.
"My client is prepared to provide information relevant to the welfare of the children," her attorney began.
Alvarez did not react.
"In exchange for?"
"No immediate request."
The prosecutor raised an eyebrow on the screen.
"That usually means the request comes after we hear whether the information is worth anything."
Evelyn stared at the table.
"David did not simply take Rachel's phone because he was angry."
Alvarez waited.
"He took it because he believed Rachel had evidence of financial crimes."
That was not what Alvarez expected.
"What crimes?"
"Corporate."
Evelyn's attorney looked uncomfortable.
"My client is not offering privileged company information unrelated to this investigation."
"If it explains why a woman was left without a phone while bleeding after childbirth, it's related."
Evelyn lifted her eyes.
"Rachel worked for Mercer Development before she and David became involved."
Alvarez nodded.
"Accounting department."
"Senior internal controls."
"And?"
"She found irregular transfers between several project companies."
"Illegal transfers?"
"Questionable."
"That's a lawyer word."
"It's an accurate word."
Alvarez did not take the bait.
"What did Rachel have?"
"Emails.
Spreadsheets.
Approvals."
"On her phone?"
"Some of them."
"Why would David care?"
Evelyn's eyes hardened.
"Because his name appears on approvals."
The room went quiet.
"Are you saying David believed Rachel might expose him?"
"Yes."
"Did you believe that?"
"I believed she was angry enough to destroy him."
"Destroy him by reporting crimes?"
Evelyn's mouth tightened.
"By taking information she did not understand and handing it to people who would use it against him."
Alvarez leaned forward.
"Did David ask you to stop her from doing that?"
"He asked me to help contain the situation."
"Contain."
"Yes."
"The same kind of word as handled."
Evelyn looked away.
"Did he know you paid Nora?"
A pause.
"Yes."
"Did he know you hired the investigator?"
"Eventually."
"Did he know you sent Paul to retrieve the recorder?"
Evelyn hesitated longer this time.
"No."
"Did he know you watched Emma leave with the twins?"
"No."
"Did he know you told people not to call 911?"
"I never said those exact words."
Alvarez's voice sharpened.
"That distinction may matter to you.
It won't matter much to a jury watching a six-year-old push a wheelbarrow."
Evelyn's face tightened.
"David was afraid of Rachel."
"Rachel was bleeding on a floor."
"You do not understand what she could have done to him."
"You keep saying that as if it explains anything."
Evelyn leaned forward.
"It explains why he went back to the house after his SUV left."
Alvarez froze.
"He went back?"
Evelyn looked at her attorney.
The attorney gave the smallest nod.
"Yes."
"How?"
"Paul drove him."
Alvarez remembered the tablet photograph at 9:26 p.m.
The polished shoe.
They had assumed Paul was the only man.
"What time?"
"Around nine fifteen."
"Why?"
"To look for a flash drive."
Alvarez's pulse jumped.
"What flash drive?"
"Rachel kept copies of company records on an encrypted drive."
"Did they find it?"
"No."
"Did David enter the house?"
"Yes."
"Did he see Rachel?"
"I assume so."
"Did he call for help?"
Evelyn said nothing.
"Did he leave again?"
"Yes."
"Then Paul returned alone later?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"For the recorder."
Alvarez looked at the prosecutor.
This was bigger than they thought.
David had not seen Rachel once.
He had seen her at least twice.
He had returned to search for evidence while she remained medically compromised.
That transformed a bad decision into a sequence of choices.
"Where is the flash drive now?
Alvarez asked.
Evelyn's expression changed.
"I don't know."
"Who does?"
"Rachel."
At the hospital, Rachel listened to Detective Alvarez repeat Evelyn's claim.
Her face went pale.
"She told you about the drive?"
"Yes."
Claire stared at her sister.
"What drive?"
Rachel looked exhausted.
"I was going to tell you."
"When?"
"When I knew what I had."
"Rachel."
"I found money moving through shell companies.
Millions.
I thought it was tax manipulation at first.
Then I found invoices tied to projects that never existed."
Claire sat slowly.
"David?"
"His approvals were on some payments.
Evelyn's were on others."
Alvarez asked, "Where is the drive?"
Rachel looked toward the hallway.
"I gave it to Emma."
Claire's mouth fell open.
"You what?"
Rachel winced.
"Not to carry around.
I hid it in something she owned because nobody ever searched her things."
Alvarez's voice remained calm.
"What thing?"
Rachel closed her eyes, trying to remember through medication and fatigue.
"Her red music box."
Claire knew it immediately.
A cheap wooden music box with painted stars that Emma had owned since she was four.
"Where is it?"
Rachel opened her eyes.
"At the house."
The house was still a controlled scene.
Alvarez called immediately.
No red music box was found in Emma's bedroom.
They searched every shelf, box, closet, and drawer.
Nothing.
Then Marisol asked Emma.
"Do you know where your red music box is?"
Emma nodded.
"Grandma took it."
Every adult in the room became still.
"When?"
"Before the babies came."
"Why?"
"She said it was too noisy."
Rachel closed her eyes.
Claire whispered, "Oh my God."
Alvarez looked at Rachel.
"Did Evelyn know the drive was inside?"
"I don't know."
That evening, another warrant was executed at Evelyn's home.
The red music box sat on a shelf in a guest room.
Its bottom panel had been pried open.
The hidden compartment was empty.
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But inside the box, investigators found a fingerprint in dust.
David's.
