Chapter 4 - Rachel Recorded the Harbor Meeting
I played the audio after Emma was asleep.
Rachel’s voice came first.
Calm.
Weak.
unmistakably hers.
“State your name.”
Then Vanessa.
“Vanessa DeLuca.”
My chest tightened.
The recording was dated four months before Rachel died.
They had met in our house.
Vanessa admitted Martin had been using Northbridge to divert money from
redevelopment budgets.
She said she discovered it after noticing duplicated invoices.
Rachel asked why she had not told me.
Vanessa answered:
“Because Martin says Nathan signed everything.”
Rachel replied:
“Nathan signs summaries. He does not sign fake invoices.”
Then Vanessa said something worse.
“If I expose Martin, he’ll expose me too.”
The recording ended there.
I looked at Vanessa.
“What did he have on you?”
She sat down.
“When I was twenty-six, my firm was failing. Martin offered me work. I
backdated two consulting reports for him.”
“Fraudulent reports?”
“They described work eventually completed, but the dates were false.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“And Rachel knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
Vanessa wiped her face.
“Because she was still trying to figure out whether I was helping Martin
steal or whether he was using my mistake to control me.”
I thought about Rachel hiding the key beneath Emma’s music box.
She had not trusted Vanessa.
May you like
But apparently she had not decided Vanessa was the mastermind either.
That distinction mattered.
