Chapter 8 - THE RED BRIEFCASE
Peter did not go alone.
Rachel expected him to.
Instead, Claire contacted police.
The meeting location was an abandoned storage facility.
Officers watched from a distance.
Peter entered the designated unit.
The red briefcase sat on the floor.
Nobody else appeared.
Inside were copies of financial statements linking Rachel and Mason to companies Nathan had investigated.
Too convenient.
Peter did not touch them.
Forensic officers collected everything.
Fingerprints appeared on the case.
Mason’s.
Rachel’s.
Nathan’s.
And Peter’s.
Peter stared at the report.
“I haven’t seen that briefcase in years.”
Rachel’s attorney immediately suggested Peter had planted it.
That had been the trap.
Whoever arranged the meeting had put Peter’s old fingerprints on the case because he had handled it years before at Nathan’s office.
Now discovery looked like fabrication.
Claire smiled grimly.
“Rachel wanted you to find it.”
“Why give us evidence against her?”
“Because now she can poison the evidence before we authenticate it.”
Rachel was destroying incriminating material by making its discovery suspicious.
Smart.
But one document inside had not been copied.
A handwritten ledger.
Nathan’s notes.
Most entries tracked transfers.
One line contained only a date and a license-plate number.
The date Nathan died.
Police searched the plate.
The vehicle belonged to Mason Reed.
Traffic cameras placed Mason’s truck near Nathan’s workplace that evening.
Mason admitted he had met Nathan.
His story changed.
He now claimed Nathan called him to discuss Rachel’s finances.
“What happened after?” investigators asked.
Mason said Nathan became angry and drove away.
Rachel said she knew nothing about the meeting.
For the first time, their accounts did not align.
Peter hoped the alliance was cracking.
Rachel repaired it within twenty-four hours.
Mason issued a corrected statement claiming he had forgotten telling Rachel afterward.
Rachel then admitted knowing about the meeting.
They synchronized again.
Peter needed something they could not rewrite.
Nathan’s car.
The vehicle had been destroyed after the crash.
Or so everyone thought.
Insurance records showed it sold at salvage auction.
Claire tracked the VIN.
The damaged car still existed in a private scrapyard in Pennsylvania.
Peter hired an independent mechanical examiner.
The steering system showed impact damage consistent with the crash.
Nothing unusual.
Then the examiner checked the brake lines.
One section had been replaced shortly before the accident.
No service invoice existed.
More disturbing, a tiny portion of the original line had been cut cleanly.
Not torn.
Not corroded.
Cut.
The examiner could not prove when.
But Peter suddenly remembered Nathan’s final unanswered calls.
Maybe Nathan had realized something was wrong with the car.
Claire requested the original emergency-call records.
Nathan had made another call that night.
Not to Peter.
To Margaret.
The call lasted eleven minutes.
May you like
Margaret had never mentioned it.
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