Chapter 5 - THE DEAD MAN’S VOICE
The next breakthrough came at 3:17 in the morning.
Ethan was awake.
Again.
Sleep had become impossible.
He sat in the library staring at the encrypted files recovered from Vanessa’s hidden cabinet.
Detective Ortiz had gone back to the station.
Two deputies remained outside.
Caroline slept upstairs beside Sophie.
Graham had taken the guest room.
Then Ethan’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered without speaking.
A man whispered.
“Ethan Bennett?”
Ethan stood.
“Yes.”
The voice sounded weak.
“Are you alone?”
Ethan looked toward the hallway.
“Who is this?”
“You know.”
His pulse accelerated.
“Lucas?”
Silence.
Then the man inhaled slowly.
“I need you to listen.”
Ethan opened the recording function on another device.
“Where are you?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters if Victor has Claire.”
“He does.”
Ethan’s grip tightened.
“Is she alive?”
“For now.”
“You know where?”
“I know where he usually takes people.”
“Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because he’ll know.”
“Lucas.”
“You have a daughter.”
“So did my brother.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
Lucas exhaled.
“Victor destroyed more than one family.”
Ethan called Ortiz from Graham’s phone while keeping Lucas on the line.
She answered immediately.
He put her on speaker but said nothing.
Lucas continued.
“Vanessa didn’t start this.”
Ethan looked at Ortiz through the video connection.
“What does that mean?”
“She became part of it.”
“Part of what?”
“A system.”
“For what?”
“Finding people with money.”
“People who were lonely.”
“People whose finances were complicated enough that no one would notice small changes at first.”
Ethan felt cold.
“Marriage scams?”
“More than that.”
“What?”
“Control.”
Lucas coughed.
“You ever wonder why Vanessa learns everything about you?”
“Food.”
“Medication.”
“Passwords.”
“Family.”
“She makes herself essential.”
“Then she isolates.”
“Then documents change.”
“Accounts change.”
“Insurance changes.”
“And eventually…”
He stopped.
“Eventually what?”
Ethan demanded.
“Something happens.”
Ethan looked toward the stairs.
“What happened to you?”
Lucas was silent.
Then he spoke.
“I tried to leave.”
“What did she do?”
“She drugged me.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Then?”
“I remember rain.”
“Vanessa driving.”
“Victor following.”
“We argued near the overlook.”
“I told her I had copies of the financial records.”
“She told me she only wanted what she deserved.”
“I laughed at her.”
“That was a mistake.”
“What happened?”
“She pushed me.”
Ethan said nothing.
Lucas continued.
“I went over the barrier.”
“Not far.”
“There was another ledge below.”
“I broke ribs.”
“My shoulder.”
“Cut my face.”
“I couldn’t climb.”
“Vanessa came down.”
Ethan’s stomach turned.
“To help you?”
Lucas laughed bitterly.
“No.”
“She looked at me.”
“She saw I was alive.”
“And she walked away.”
Silence.
“Victor came later.”
“He found you?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he kill you?”
“Because he realized I was worth more alive.”
Ethan frowned.
“Worth more how?”
“Blackmail.”
Lucas answered.
“He told Vanessa I died.”
“He arranged the body.”
“What body?”
Ethan asked.
Lucas was silent for several seconds.
“A man who had died without identification.”
“What?”
“Victor had contacts.”
“Medical examiner.”
“Deputy.”
“People who liked money.”
“He placed the body in the wreck.”
“Fire handled the rest.”
Ethan looked at Ortiz.
Her face had gone completely still.
“Vanessa believed you were buried?”
“Yes.”
“She collected insurance.”
“Yes.”
“Where were you?”
“Private clinic.”
“Under another name.”
“Why didn’t you go to police?”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“Victor showed me photographs of my sister.”
“Her children.”
“Their schools.”
“Their house.”
“He told me if I spoke, they would disappear.”
Ethan understood the fear.
He looked upstairs.
Sophie.
“Why come back?”
he asked.
“I waited until my sister moved overseas.”
“Then I started collecting evidence.”
“Against Victor?”
“And Vanessa.”
“Why Vanessa if she thought you were dead?”
Lucas’s voice hardened.
“Because she left me on that cliff.”
“She didn’t call for help.”
“She didn’t look back.”
“She wanted me dead.”
Ethan could not argue with that.
“Why were you at my house eight months ago?”
“I came to warn her.”
“About me?”
“About your daughter.”
Ethan’s blood went cold.
“What did you know about Sophie?”
“Victor told me she was becoming a problem.”
“A problem?”
“He said Vanessa couldn’t control her.”
Ethan gripped the table.
“What was she planning?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Tell me what you know.”
“She wanted Sophie evaluated.”
“For behavior issues.”
“She wanted a medical record.”
“She wanted you to believe Sophie was unstable.”
“Then?”
“Boarding school.”
“She’s four.”
“Not immediately.”
“Eventually.”
Ethan could barely contain himself.
“And if that failed?”
Lucas didn’t answer.
“Lucas.”
“If that failed, Victor said accidents happen to children too.”
Ethan’s hand slammed against the table.
Ortiz immediately spoke.
“Ethan.”
He looked at her.
“Stay focused.”
He inhaled.
“Lucas, where are you?”
“No.”
“You called me.”
“To tell you to protect your daughter.”
“I can protect her better if I understand everything.”
“Then understand this.”
“Vanessa is dangerous.”
“But Victor is worse.”
“Does Vanessa know you’re alive?”
“She knows now.”
“How?”
“I confronted her eight months ago.”
“At my house.”
“Yes.”
“What did you want?”
“Money?”
“No.”
“I wanted her to tell me where Victor kept the original ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“A list of payments.”
“Bribes.”
“Victims.”
“Accounts.”
“Everything.”
“Where is it?”
“I thought Vanessa knew.”
“Does she?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan looked at Ortiz.
“What is 719?”
Lucas was silent.
Then he laughed weakly.
“She kept the code.”
“What does it mean?”
“July nineteenth.”
“Why?”
“Our wedding anniversary.”
Ethan felt nauseated.
Vanessa had used the date of her marriage to a man she tried to kill as the code to a cabinet containing information about her next husband.
“Lucas.”
“Yes?”
“Did Marisol know you?”
“She found me.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
“Five months ago.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That Sophie was afraid.”
“That Vanessa had a room full of recordings.”
“She asked me whether Vanessa had done it before.”
“What did you say?”
“The truth.”
“What truth?”
“That fear is how Vanessa prepares people.”
“For what?”
“Isolation.”
Lucas’s voice grew weaker.
“Marisol wanted to go to you.”
“Why didn’t she?”
“She tried.”
Ethan remembered the driveway.
The flight.
The conversation he postponed.
His guilt returned.
“Then she disappeared.”
Lucas said.
“Yes.”
“Is she alive?”
A long pause.
“I think so.”
Ethan stood straighter.
“Why?”
“Because Victor doesn’t kill everyone.”
“What does he do?”
“He keeps leverage.”
“Where?”
“I told you.”
“I can’t say.”
“Lucas.”
The line crackled.
Then Lucas whispered.
“He’s coming.”
“Who?”
“Victor?”
No answer.
“Lucas?”
The phone clattered.
Ethan heard footsteps.
A door opened.
Then Victor Sloan’s voice came through clearly.
“You never learned when to stop talking.”
A struggle followed.
Something crashed.
Then the line went dead.
Ortiz was already mobilizing units.
The call had been partially traced to an industrial area near Oxnard.
Ethan wanted to go.
Ortiz refused.
This time he didn’t argue.
Sophie needed him more.
At dawn, officers entered an abandoned warehouse.
They found signs someone had been living there.
Food.
Medical supplies.
A mattress.
Printed photographs.
But Lucas was gone.
On one wall, investigators found photographs of Vanessa.
Ethan.
Sophie.
Marisol.
Claire.
And several strangers.
Red lines connected them.
At the center was Victor Sloan.
Below his photograph was a word written by hand.
ARCHITECT.
But the most important discovery sat on a folding table.
A digital recorder.
Lucas had apparently left it running before Victor arrived.
The device captured eleven minutes.
Most of it was noise.
Then came the conversation.
Victor.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Lucas.
“You should have left the girl alone.”
Victor laughed.
“She isn’t your concern.”
“She’s four.”
“She’s leverage.”
Ethan stopped the audio.
His hands shook.
Ortiz looked at him.
“You don’t have to hear the rest.”
“Yes.”
He pressed play.
Lucas spoke.
“Vanessa won’t go through with it.”
Victor answered.
“She already did.”
Silence.
“What did she do?”
Lucas asked.
Victor chuckled.
“The paperwork is finished.”
“What paperwork?”
“She signed everything.”
“Bennett’s medical declaration.”
“The power of attorney.”
“The child evaluation.”
“All we needed was tomorrow.”
Lucas cursed.
“What happens tomorrow?”
Victor’s answer came quietly.
“Ethan Bennett goes to sleep.”
Ethan stared at the recorder.
Then Victor added one final sentence.
“And by the time he wakes up, his daughter won’t be in California anymore.”
The recording ended.
Ortiz immediately ordered an alert involving Sophie.
Airports.
Private terminals.
Border crossings.
Ports.
Every possible exit.
Ethan went upstairs.
Sophie was awake.
She sat on the bed drawing.
He forced himself to smile.
“What are you making?”
“Our new house.”
He sat beside her.
“We’re getting a new house?”
She nodded.
“This one is scary.”
Ethan looked at the drawing.
A little yellow house.
Trees.
Flowers.
Two stick figures holding hands.
“Who’s that?”
“Me.”
“And who’s that?”
“You.”
Ethan swallowed.
“No Vanessa?”
Sophie shook her head.
“No bad man.”
“No secret room.”
Ethan hugged her.
“We can do that.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Sophie smiled.
Then she handed him another drawing.
This one showed three people.
Sophie.
Vanessa.
And a tall man with a black circle drawn on his hand.
Victor.
Behind them was a large shape.
Ethan pointed.
“What is this?”
“A boat.”
He froze.
“What boat?”
“The bad man’s boat.”
“Where did you see it?”
“Vanessa took me.”
“When?”
Sophie shrugged.
“Before my birthday.”
Ethan’s heart raced.
“Where?”
“The place with lots of boats.”
“A marina?”
She nodded.
“The bad man said it was almost ready.”
“Ready for what?”
Sophie looked at him.
“For me.”
Ethan called Ortiz.
Within an hour, they identified a yacht registered through a shell company connected to Victor.
It was docked in Marina del Rey.
By the time investigators arrived, the yacht was gone.
Harbor records showed it had departed at 4:12 that morning.
Destination undeclared.
Then Ortiz received another message.
The Coast Guard had found something floating three miles offshore.
A woman’s handbag.
Inside was Claire Dawson’s identification.
And tucked inside the wallet was a photograph of Sophie.
May you like
On the back, Victor had written four words.
NEXT TIME, SHE’S WITH ME.
