Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Closer to HomeThe note had been placed inside Lily's music box eleven months earlier.
At least, that was the conclusion Ethan reached after speaking with the repair shop.
The music box had stopped working shortly after Emily disappeared.
Ethan had taken it to a small restoration business in Stamford, where an elderly technician named Arthur Bell repaired antique clocks and mechanical toys.
Arthur remembered the box.
He also remembered the woman who collected it.
“Your fiancée,” he said.
Ethan stared at him.
“Victoria?”
“Yes. Tall blonde woman. Very polite. She paid the balance in cash.”
Ethan had forgotten that detail.
He had assumed his assistant collected it.
Arthur pulled out the original service receipt.
On the back was a handwritten notation:
Customer requested interior compartment remain unopened.
Ethan frowned.
“What interior compartment?”
Arthur explained that the music box contained a narrow hollow space beneath the winding mechanism.
It was not unusual for older decorative boxes to include compartments for notes or keepsakes.
“When I noticed it, she got very upset,” Arthur said. “Told me not to touch anything except the spring.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Ethan left the shop feeling more confused than before.
The note had apparently been inside the music box before Victoria collected it.
But who had placed it there?
And why?
Detective Shaw identified the numbers as a reference to an internal Whitmore Development storage system.
The sequence corresponded to an archived financial account and a specific date.
The account had been used to process consulting payments.
On the referenced date, $480,000 had moved from Whitmore Development through a subsidiary to a company controlled by Richard Sloane.
The authorization used Ethan's digital signature.
But Ethan had been in Chicago that day, attending a conference.
He had not signed anything.
A forensic examination found that the authentication request had originated from an office computer assigned to Ethan's executive assistant.
Her name was Natalie Brooks.
Natalie had worked for Ethan for thirteen years.
She knew his passwords.
She scheduled his appointments.
She managed his personal calendar during the divorce.
She had attended Lily's school concerts.
Ethan had trusted her with almost every detail of his life.
When Shaw asked Natalie to come in for an interview, she agreed immediately.
She appeared calm.
Until Shaw showed her the transaction.
Then she began to shake.
Natalie was fifty-two, divorced, and raising a teenage son who needed expensive ongoing medical care.
She had spent years working long hours without complaint.
Marcus noticed.
He noticed everything.
When Natalie's son required treatment that her insurance did not fully cover, Marcus offered to help.
At first, it was a loan.
Then a bonus.
Then a personal arrangement.
“He told me it would be temporary,” Natalie said.
Shaw sat across from her.
“What would be temporary?”
“Using Ethan's credentials.”
“For what purpose?”
“Approving transactions.”
“Did you know they were fraudulent?”
Natalie covered her face.
“At the beginning, I told myself they weren't.”
“And later?”
She began crying.
“Later I was too afraid to stop.”
Marcus had obtained copies of confidential medical records and bank statements.
He threatened to expose Natalie to criminal prosecution if she refused to cooperate.
He also reminded her that her son depended on her income.
Natalie had given him access to Ethan's emails, personal accounts, and company authentication systems.
She had helped filter Emily's messages.
She had altered meeting schedules.
And on the evening Emily disappeared, she had deliberately canceled a security alert from the company's vehicle tracking service.
“Did you know Emily would be hurt?” Shaw asked.
Natalie shook her head.
“Marcus said they were going to scare her into dropping the investigation.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I wanted to.”
It was the same answer Ethan had given himself many times.
Not because it was true.
Because believing it was easier than asking what came next.
When Ethan learned about Natalie, he felt a different kind of grief.
Victoria had been part of his life for eighteen months.
Marcus for eleven years.
Natalie had known him since before Lily was born.
She had once stayed late at the hospital while Emily underwent an emergency cesarean delivery, bringing food and clean clothes because Ethan had forgotten both.
He remembered her holding newborn Lily and crying.
Now he had to reconcile that memory with her role in Emily's disappearance.
He asked to speak with Natalie after her attorney approved a limited conversation.
They met in a conference room under supervision.
Natalie looked exhausted.
“Ethan.”
He sat down.
“Why?”
She stared at her hands.
“I was drowning.”
“You could have asked me for help.”
“I know.”
“You knew Emily was missing.”
Natalie began crying.
“I didn't know where she was.”
“But you knew Marcus had threatened her.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was afraid.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“Emily was afraid. Lily was afraid. You weren't the only person who suffered.”
Natalie covered her mouth.
He waited until she looked at him again.
“You let my daughter believe her mother was dead.”
Natalie whispered, “I'm sorry.”
Ethan stood.
He had spent the last few days learning how little an apology could accomplish.
For once, he had no interest in hearing one.
That night, Emily called Ethan from her hospital room.
“Lily's asleep,” she said.
He was sitting alone in his study.
“Is everything okay?”
“I remembered something.”
He straightened.
“About Marcus?”
“About the night before I disappeared.”
Emily took a breath.
“I came to your office. We argued. You remember?”
“Yes.”
“You told me to stop investigating the company.”
“I remember.”
“You said I was turning Lily against you.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“I remember that too.”
“I went home and packed a bag. I wasn't leaving Lily. I was going to stay with my mother for a few days.”
He listened.
“While I was packing, Natalie called.”
His stomach tightened.
“She said you wanted to apologize. That you were willing to meet the accountant who had contacted me.”
“I never said that.”
“I know.”
Emily's voice shook.
“She gave me the location near New London.”
Ethan stood.
“So she knew where you were going.”
“Yes.”
“Did she tell Marcus?”
“I think she arranged the meeting for him.”
There was a long silence.
Then Emily said something Ethan had not expected.
“I don't think Natalie planned everything. I think Marcus used her.”
“That doesn't excuse her.”
“No.”
Emily paused.
“But Ethan, if we're going to find out the truth, we have to stop pretending every person involved had the same reason.”
He sat down slowly.
He had once dismissed Emily as overly suspicious.
Now she was the person reminding him to distinguish evidence from anger.
“Emily?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for telling me.”
She hesitated.
Then she said:
“Don't thank me yet. There's something else.”
“What?”
“I recognized the man who visited the chamber the night before Lily found me.”
“Richard Sloane?”
“No.”
Ethan felt cold.
“Who was it?”
May you like
Emily answered quietly.
“Your brother.”
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