Chapter 16 - PETER LAWSON’S LAST SECRET
Peter Lawson was supposed to be in federal protective custody.
Agent Ward had told Ethan that hours earlier.
Yet here he stood in Charles Cole’s study.
Gun in hand.
Expression calm.
Marcus whispered.
“How did you get out?”
Peter smiled.
“You think federal protection is prison?”
“They moved me to a hotel.”
“I left.”
Ethan stayed behind the desk.
“Why are you here?”
Peter looked at him.
“Because both of you keep digging.”
“You sabotaged Laura’s car.”
Peter’s face tightened.
“I loosened a fitting.”
“Your father told me it would delay her.”
“You took thirty thousand dollars.”
“Yes.”
“And five years later you’re still protecting yourself.”
Peter raised the gun slightly.
“I spent five years hiding.”
“Marcus found me.”
“Then federal agents found me.”
“I’m done being found.”
Marcus stood slowly.
“Put the gun down.”
Peter laughed.
“You don’t order me anymore.”
“I never ordered you.”
“No.”
“Charles did.”
Peter’s eyes hardened.
“That family always ordered everyone.”
Ethan watched him.
“Why shoot at us?”
“Because Marcus has the files.”
Marcus glanced at the envelope on the desk.
Peter noticed.
“Give them to me.”
“No.”
“Marcus.”
“No.”
Peter pointed the weapon directly at him.
Marcus did not move.
Ethan saw something strange in Peter’s face.
Desperation.
Not murder.
At least not yet.
Ethan spoke.
“Agents are outside.”
Peter looked at him.
“They’ll be inside soon.”
“I know.”
“So you’re not leaving with those files.”
Peter smiled faintly.
“Maybe I don’t plan to.”
Ethan’s pulse changed.
That sounded dangerous.
“What do you want?”
“The recording.”
Ethan held it.
“Why?”
“Because Laura recorded more than my confession.”
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
Peter looked at Marcus.
“You never listened to the entire device.”
“I did.”
“No.”
“You listened to the files you knew about.”
“There’s a hidden track.”
Ethan stared at the recorder.
“How?”
“Laura knew people might steal it.”
“She created a second storage partition.”
“What’s on it?”
Peter’s eyes moved toward Ethan.
“Charles.”
Ethan’s throat tightened.
“What did he say?”
“Play code 0519.”
May 19.
The day Laura died.
Ethan entered the code.
A hidden file appeared.
Marcus went pale.
Peter whispered.
“That’s why I came.”
Ethan pressed play.
Charles’s voice filled the study.
“Laura, please listen.”
Laura answered.
“I listened for five years.”
“You covered Marcus.”
“You covered yourself.”
Charles spoke.
“I made mistakes.”
“You stole from Chloe.”
“I borrowed.”
“You stole.”
“I intended to replace it.”
“And Peter Lawson?”
Silence.
Then Charles said.
“I told him to stop your car.”
“Why?”
“So we could talk before you reached Stamford.”
“You could have called me.”
“You stopped taking my calls.”
“Because you lied.”
Charles’s voice broke.
“I never wanted you hurt.”
Laura replied.
“Then tell Ethan everything tonight.”
A long pause.
“I will.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
The recording ended.
Ethan stared.
His father intended to confess.
Maybe.
Then another hidden file appeared.
Timestamp.
5:34 p.m.
Hospital.
Ethan’s hands shook.
He pressed play.
Background noise.
Medical equipment.
A door.
Laura’s weak voice.
“Charles?”
His father answered.
“I’m here.”
“Ethan?”
“On his way.”
“Tell him.”
“I will.”
Then Marcus’s voice entered.
Ethan looked at him.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Laura whispered.
“You.”
Marcus said something too low to hear.
Charles snapped.
“Get out.”
Marcus answered.
“Not without the folder.”
Laura said.
“You’ll never touch Chloe’s trust.”
Marcus replied.
“I don’t care about the trust.”
“I want the contract.”
Charles said.
“Leave her alone.”
Sounds of movement.
Then Peter’s voice.
Distant.
From the hall.
“Mr. Cole.”
Another door.
Bennett.
“We need to stabilize her.”
Then a sudden alarm.
Voices overlapped.
The recording became chaotic.
Laura gasped.
Marcus shouted.
“I didn’t touch her.”
Charles yelled.
“What did you give her?”
Bennett answered.
“Nothing.”
More alarms.
Then someone said.
“Her line.”
“Check the line.”
A nurse screamed.
“There’s something in the IV.”
Ethan stopped the recording.
The room went silent.
Marcus stared.
“What?”
Peter’s gun lowered slightly.
“You never knew.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Knew what?”
“Laura didn’t die because Bennett gave the wrong dose.”
“Someone injected medication into her IV line.”
Ethan felt cold.
“Who?”
Peter looked toward the doorway.
“I saw the person.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Who?”
Peter’s face changed.
“Rebecca.”
The name hit all of them.
Rebecca Hall.
The wedding coordinator.
The administrative assistant.
The future trustee.
The woman who processed transfers.
The woman currently cooperating with investigators.
Peter continued.
“She wore scrubs.”
“I thought she was hospital staff.”
“Then I recognized her later.”
Ethan’s stomach turned.
Rachel had described a person with a scar behind the ear.
Marcus.
But perhaps she saw Marcus enter before Rebecca.
Two people.
Marcus for the folder.
Rebecca for the killing.
“Why would Rebecca kill Laura?”
Peter laughed bitterly.
“Because Charles paid her.”
Marcus stared.
“No.”
Peter looked at him.
“Charles hired me to stop the car.”
“When that failed to keep Laura quiet, he needed something permanent.”
Ethan shook his head.
“The recording shows Charles telling Laura he would confess.”
“People say things when someone is recording them.”
“He knew?”
Peter nodded.
“Charles discovered the device.”
“He let it run.”
“Why?”
“To make himself look innocent.”
Marcus whispered.
“That’s why he said I didn’t know the truth.”
Ethan remembered Charles’s confession.
Marcus thinks Laura died at the crash.
He must never learn the truth.
Not because Marcus caused the death.
Because Charles arranged a second act at the hospital.
Marcus looked physically ill.
“For five years I thought I killed her.”
Peter’s expression hardened.
“You helped.”
“You followed her.”
“You stole the folder.”
“You gave Charles leverage.”
“But Rebecca injected the line.”
Ethan stared at Peter.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
Peter laughed.
“I had already sabotaged her brakes.”
“You think police would treat me like a hero?”
“No.”
“They would treat you like someone who could testify.”
“I was afraid.”
“That fear gave them five years.”
Peter flinched.
Then sirens drew closer.
Peter pointed the gun again.
“I need the recording.”
“No.”
“Ethan.”
“No.”
“If that device reaches investigators, I go to prison.”
“You’re already going to prison.”
Peter’s face twisted.
“I have a daughter.”
Ethan felt no sympathy.
“So did Laura.”
Peter went still.
Ethan continued.
“And Chloe had a mother.”
“Your fear does not matter more than what you did.”
Peter’s hand shook.
Marcus moved suddenly.
He struck Peter’s wrist.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Ethan lunged.
The three men crashed against the desk.
Peter struggled.
Marcus twisted the weapon away.
Agents stormed the room.
“Drop it.”
Marcus froze with the gun in his hand.
For one dangerous second, Ethan saw the old Marcus return.
Cornered.
Angry.
Capable of running.
Ethan said.
“Marcus.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Put it down.”
Marcus looked at the agents.
Then at Richard Dean’s paused face on the tablet.
Slowly, he placed the gun on the floor.
Agents arrested Peter.
Then Marcus.
Marcus did not resist.
As they cuffed him, he looked at Ethan.
“Make sure Chloe gets everything Laura wanted her to have.”
Ethan stared.
“She will.”
Marcus nodded once.
Then agents took him away.
The recording exposed Rebecca.
Her cooperation agreement collapsed.
She was arrested before sunrise.
Confronted with the hidden audio and Peter’s testimony, Rebecca confessed.
Charles had contacted her from the hospital.
He told her Laura could not be allowed to speak to Ethan.
Rebecca entered wearing borrowed scrubs.
She injected medication into Laura’s line.
Bennett discovered something wrong but helped alter records afterward to protect Charles.
Marcus entered earlier to steal Laura’s folder.
He left the room before the injection.
Laura’s death had not been caused by one person.
It was a chain of cowardice.
Charles created the danger.
Peter sabotaged the car.
Marcus pursued her.
Rebecca killed her.
Bennett covered it.
Evelyn hid records.
Thomas hid finances.
Every person told themselves they were only responsible for one small part.
Together, they destroyed a life.
Ethan thought about that for days.
Then Noah called.
“The board voted.”
“On what?”
“Marcus’s removal.”
Ethan almost laughed.
“That feels late.”
“Unanimous.”
“Also, they want you to remain CEO.”
Ethan stared out the window.
“I don’t know if I want to.”
Noah paused.
“That’s new.”
“So is everything.”
Later that evening, Chloe found Ethan in the kitchen.
“Can we go home now?”
He smiled.
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
She hugged him.
For the first time since the wedding, Ethan believed the worst might be behind them.
Then the doorbell rang.
A uniformed officer handed him a sealed package recovered from Rebecca’s apartment.
Inside was a photograph.
Laura.
Pregnant.
Standing beside Charles.
Ethan stared.
The date was ten years earlier.
Before Chloe.
On the back Laura had written.
If Ethan ever learns what Charles did before our wedding, he may never forgive me.
Ethan’s heart sank.
May you like
The conspiracy surrounding Laura’s death had been exposed.
But apparently Laura had carried a secret of her own.
