Chapter 10 - ASHLEY’S SECOND SECRET
Ashley had recorded Michael.
Not the murder.
A conversation afterward.
She originally hid it because the recording also implicated her.
Three hours after the cliff, before learning Emma survived, Michael and Ashley reached a private lodge.
Ashley secretly activated voice recording.
Why?
Because she no longer trusted him.
The audio was ugly.
Ashley:
What if they find her?
Michael:
They won’t.
Ashley:
You pushed a pregnant woman.
Michael:
You were there.
Ashley:
I didn’t touch her.
Michael:
You wiped the footprints. So don’t suddenly become moral.
Silence.
Then:
Once Emma is declared dead, the documents go in. We stick to the timeline.
The defense fought admissibility.
Lost most of the argument.
The recording transformed the case.
Not perfect confession.
But devastating.
“What documents?” prosecutors asked Ashley.
A revised estate package.
A corporate proxy.
An emergency board consent.
Michael planned to present them after Emma’s death.
Some were forged.
Some real.
Some deceptively obtained.
That sophistication mattered.
He did not need one giant fake will.
He had created layers of plausible paperwork.
Then Ashley revealed why she finally recorded him.
Michael had told her:
“If this goes wrong, you’re the one who brought Emma to the overlook.”
He was preparing to blame Ashley.
She understood that the moment Emma went over the edge, she had become disposable too.
Emma felt no sympathy.
Not yet.
Ashley had watched her fall.
Helped erase evidence.
Left.
May you like
But her testimony mattered.
Accountability did not require liking the witness.
