Chapter 5 - The Rescuer Had Been Watching Me Before I Fell
Daniel didn’t answer until we reached the secure hallway.
“What does Ethan mean?”
“Claire—”
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
I had spent too many years accepting partial truths because someone claimed they were protecting me.
I would never do it again.
“How does Ethan know your connection to Rebecca?”
Daniel glanced toward the interrogation room.
“Because Rebecca is my sister-in-law.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“My younger brother was married to her.”
“Was?”
“He died eighteen months ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel nodded once.
“Car accident.”
Something about the way he said it made me uneasy.
“You don’t believe it was an accident.”
“No.”
“Ethan?”
“We suspected.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because until now, it had nothing to do with keeping you alive.”
“That’s not your decision.”
“You’re right.”
I folded my arms.
“Start talking.”
Daniel explained that his brother, Matthew Mercer, had worked as an internal systems analyst for Bennett Logistics.
Matthew and Rebecca had discovered irregularities involving companies connected to Ethan.
At first, they believed it was accounting fraud.
Then Matthew began receiving threats.
He ignored them.
Two weeks later, his car went through a guardrail.
The official investigation concluded mechanical failure.
My stomach tightened.
“Brakes?”
“Yes.”
The same method used on me.
“Rebecca thought Ethan killed him.”
“She couldn’t prove it.”
“So she investigated.”
“For eighteen months.”
“And you?”
“I joined her.”
I stared at him.
“You were watching Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“Were you watching me?”
He hesitated.
That was answer enough.
“How long?”
“Three months.”
I felt violated.
“Why?”
“We thought you might be in danger.”
“And nobody warned me?”
“If we approached you without evidence, Ethan could have realized he was under investigation.”
“So you gambled with my life.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
The admission surprised me.
He didn’t defend himself.
He didn’t make excuses.
“I’ll regret that for the rest of my life,” he said.
I thought about the cliff.
“If your helicopter had arrived ten minutes later…”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
He looked at me.
“My son nearly died.”
“I know.”
“You had information.”
“Not enough.”
“You knew my brakes had been tampered with?”
“Not until after the mountain.”
That stopped me.
“What did you know?”
“We knew Ethan was moving money. We knew he had contacted Lucas. We didn’t know why.”
“So why were you following us in Montana?”
“Because Rebecca intercepted a message containing the coordinates.”
I stared at him.
“Where is Rebecca now?”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“I don’t know.”
“When did you last see her?”
“Three days before your trip.”
“And afterward?”
“She disappeared.”
Cold moved through me.
“Could she have attacked Lucas?”
“Possibly.”
“Could she have staged Ethan’s kidnapping?”
“No. Ethan admitted staging it.”
“Where is she?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
We returned to the hospital.
Noah had been moved from intensive monitoring to a normal newborn room.
Holding him helped quiet my mind.
His tiny body knew nothing about insurance policies or betrayal or murder plots.
He only knew warmth.
Milk.
My heartbeat.
I envied him.
The next morning, Vanessa agreed to a formal interview.
Her attorney negotiated quickly.
She wanted immunity from the most serious charges in exchange for cooperation.
I was allowed to watch remotely.
Vanessa looked different without expensive makeup and perfect hair.
Smaller.
Ordinary.
She began by claiming Ethan manipulated her.
Then investigators showed messages.
Her story changed.
She admitted the affair had lasted nearly eighteen months.
She admitted knowing about Ethan’s financial problems.
She admitted discussing the insurance policy.
But she insisted she didn’t know he intended to kill me until Montana.
“Why did you go?” the investigator asked.
“Ethan said Claire had agreed to meet me.”
“For what?”
“To discuss our relationship.”
I nearly laughed.
“Did you believe that?”
“At first.”
“And when you arrived at the cliff?”
“She was already gone.”
“You asked whether she was dead.”
Vanessa looked down.
“I panicked.”
“You heard Ethan say fifty million dollars.”
“Yes.”
“And you left.”
“I was afraid of him.”
“You moved into Claire’s house eight days later.”
Vanessa started crying.
I felt nothing.
Then the investigator asked about Rebecca.
Vanessa stopped crying.
“Rebecca Holloway?”
“Yes.”
“I thought she was dead.”
Daniel leaned toward the screen.
The investigator frowned.
“Why?”
“Ethan told me.”
“When?”
“Months ago.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“He said Rebecca wouldn’t be a problem anymore.”
Daniel stood.
“Where are you going?”
“To find Ethan’s private property records.”
Within hours, investigators discovered a cabin registered through one of Ethan’s shell companies.
It stood nearly sixty miles from Glacier National Park.
Agents arrived before sunset.
The cabin appeared abandoned.
Inside, they found canned food.
Medical supplies.
A laptop.
And blood.
But no Rebecca.
Then an agent discovered a concealed door beneath the basement stairs.
Behind it was a narrow room.
A woman had been held there.
There were restraints.
Blankets.
Empty water bottles.
And dozens of sheets of paper covered in handwritten numbers.
Rebecca had been alive.
Recently.
Daniel called me from the scene.
“She escaped.”
“How do you know?”
“The window was broken from inside.”
“Where is she?”
“We found tracks.”
Daniel paused.
“They lead toward the highway.”
“Then what?”
“They disappear.”
Someone had picked her up.
The laptop revealed more.
Rebecca had been collecting evidence against Ethan before she vanished.
Files showed transfers from Bennett Logistics to shell companies.
Emails linked Ethan to Lucas.
And one folder contained photographs of me.
Leaving my doctor.
Shopping for baby clothes.
Walking my dog.
Sleeping beside a pool.
I stared at them.
“He had me followed.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Almost a year.”
One photograph made my stomach turn.
It showed me standing in Noah’s nursery.
Taken through the window.
On the back, someone had written:
WAIT UNTIL AFTER DELIVERY?
Another note beneath it said:
NO. BOTH MUST GO.
I turned away.
Daniel quietly closed the file.
Then his phone rang.
His expression changed.
“Where?”
He stood.
“When?”
I watched him.
“What happened?”
He ended the call.
“Rebecca just contacted the task force.”
“She’s alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“She won’t say.”
“Why?”
“She believes someone inside the investigation is helping Ethan.”
Daniel stared at me.
“She wants to meet you.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Where?”
“She sent coordinates.”
He showed me.
A roadside church twenty miles away.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“You don’t get to decide.”
“You just gave birth.”
“And she may know who tried to murder me.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“I’ll arrange security.”
That night, I left Noah with a federal nurse and rode in an unmarked vehicle.
The church was dark.
Snow covered the parking lot.
Daniel entered first.
I followed.
A woman stepped from behind the altar.
Thin.
Bruised.
Dark hair cut unevenly.
Rebecca.
She looked at Daniel.
Then at me.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“For what?”
“For not warning you sooner.”
“Tell me everything.”
She handed me a flash drive.
“This proves Ethan ordered Matthew’s death. It proves he stole from your company. And it proves he paid Lucas.”
“Then why hide?”
“Because Lucas wasn’t the person I was afraid of.”
“Who?”
Rebecca looked toward Daniel.
He frowned.
“Rebecca?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I found the name of the person Ethan paid to make sure Claire never left the mountain.”
“Lucas,” I said.
She shook her head.
“No.”
My stomach dropped.
“Lucas was only backup.”
Silence filled the church.
“Who was the first person?”
Rebecca opened her mouth.
A gunshot shattered the stained-glass window.
Daniel tackled me to the floor.
Rebecca screamed.
Another shot struck the altar.
Agents outside shouted.
Daniel drew his weapon.
“Stay down!”
Footsteps raced through the darkness.
Then silence.
When officers secured the building, the shooter was gone.
But Rebecca had been hit.
The bullet grazed her shoulder.
She was alive.
As paramedics lifted her onto a stretcher, she grabbed my wrist.
I leaned close.
“What were you trying to tell me?”
Her lips trembled.
“The person Ethan hired…”
“Yes?”
Rebecca looked past me toward the dark doorway.
“…was someone you trusted.”
Then she lost consciousness.
May you like
And suddenly I realized the greatest danger might not have been the husband sitting in federal custody—it might have been someone who had been standing beside me throughout the entire investigation.
---
