Chapter 3 - THE PERFECT VICTIM
Daniel did not run.
That was what surprised Evelyn most.
He waited for the police.
Calmly.
When Officers Mark Ellis and Joanne Price arrived, Daniel immediately raised his hands and claimed Evelyn had suffered an allergic reaction and become confused.
He said Maya attacked him without warning.
Maya shouted that he was lying.
Daniel never raised his voice.
That made him more convincing.
"My mother has been under enormous stress," he told the officers. "She's been changing medications. Ask her doctor."
Evelyn stared at him.
Medication?
She took no medication that caused confusion.
Daniel produced his phone.
On it was a message apparently sent from Evelyn two nights earlier.
Sometimes I don't know what's real anymore.
Evelyn had never written it.
Maya's missing footage became a serious problem.
The food truck's security system used cloud storage, but someone had accessed Maya's account ten minutes before the attack and disabled automatic upload.
The login came from Maya's own tablet.
Daniel had prepared more than an assault.
He had prepared a narrative.
At the hospital, Rebecca arrived furious.
"We need police protection."
"No," Evelyn said. "We need to know how deep this goes."
Daniel was released pending further investigation.
There was no clear video.
No independent eyewitness besides Maya.
Daniel claimed Maya had financial motives because Evelyn had recently been seen meeting her.
A prosecutor would not build an attempted-murder case from that alone.
Rebecca opened the legal envelope Evelyn had been carrying.
Inside was a revised trust document naming a charitable foundation as primary beneficiary, with Maya receiving a smaller property interest in the brownstone storefront spaces.
Maya stared at Evelyn.
"You changed this before today?"
"Yesterday."
"Daniel couldn't have known."
Evelyn looked toward the hospital window.
"Someone told him."
Rebecca checked the document-routing record.
Only three people knew about the revision.
Rebecca.
Evelyn.
And Rebecca's senior paralegal, Colin Marsh.
Then Rebecca's phone rang.
She answered.
Her face drained of color.
"What?"
She ended the call and looked at Evelyn.
"Colin's dead."
Maya covered her mouth.
Rebecca continued.
"Police found him in his apartment an hour ago."
Evelyn felt cold despite the blanket around her shoulders.
Then Rebecca added the detail that changed everything.
"On his kitchen table, they found twenty thousand dollars in cash."
And beside the money was a handwritten note.
May you like
It contained Evelyn's home address.
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