Chapter 5 - THE SECOND PHONE
The police found Julian's second phone inside a locked compartment beneath the driver's seat.
It wasn't registered to him.
It wasn't connected to his regular number.
But the search history was enough.
Arthur Vance.
Vance Shipping.
Great Lakes contracts.
Vance family assets.
Property ownership.
My father's business.
Even Rachel's address.
Julian had been watching my family.
For how long?
Detective Hayes didn't know.
But there was more.
The phone contained photographs.
My father leaving work.
Rachel picking Ethan up from school.
Our old family house.
And photographs of me.
Dozens of them.
Some were taken through windows.
Some from across parking lots.
One had been taken only three days before.
I was walking Ethan into kindergarten.
My stomach twisted.
“Why?”
Detective Hayes looked at me.
“That is what we're trying to determine.”
My father sat silently.
His face had become unreadable.
I knew that expression.
It was the expression he used before making difficult decisions.
“Dad.”
He looked at me.
“Don't do anything.”
“I haven't done anything.”
“I know you.”
A faint smile appeared.
“You're my daughter.”
“That isn't an answer.”
He leaned forward.
“I promise you, Evelyn. I will not touch your husband.”
“Good.”
“But I will find out why he was watching us.”
Later that afternoon, our attorney arrived.
Her name was Margaret Ellis.
She was a sharp, silver-haired woman who had represented my father's company for almost twenty years.
She placed a thick binder on the table.
“We need to move quickly.”
I nodded.
She looked at me.
“Evelyn, I'm going to ask you something difficult.”
“Okay.”
“Did Julian ever have access to your father's financial records?”
I frowned.
“No.”
“Did he ever work for your father?”
“No.”
“Did he ever ask about the shipping company?”
“Sometimes.”
“How often?”
I thought.
“More after we got married.”
Margaret exchanged a glance with my father.
“What?”
She opened a document.
“Three years ago, someone attempted to access one of your father's corporate accounts.”
My father frowned.
“That's impossible.”
“We blocked it.”
“Who?”
Margaret looked at me.
“The login originated from Julian's workplace.”
My heart dropped.
“Julian?”
“We couldn't prove it.”
My father stood.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the attempt was unsuccessful.”
He looked furious.
Margaret continued.
“But there is another issue.”
She opened another folder.
“Six months ago, someone filed a shell company in Delaware.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that have to do with Julian?”
“Everything.”
She slid the document toward me.
The company had no employees.
No office.
No obvious business activity.
But one of its registered officers had a connection.
Julian's brother.
I stared at the page.
“What were they planning?”
Margaret looked at my father.
Then back at me.
“We don't know yet.”
My father spoke.
“We will.”
That night, I returned home for the first time under police escort.
The house looked exactly as I remembered.
The overturned chair had been removed.
The broken lamp replaced.
The kitchen cleaned.
But something felt wrong.
Ethan stood beside me.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Can we sleep at Grandpa's?”
I knelt carefully.
“Yes.”
He hugged me.
Then he whispered something into my ear.
“Daddy has a secret room.”
I froze.
“What?”
“A room in the basement.”
My father's expression changed.
“Ethan, what room?”
May you like
My son pointed toward the basement door.
“The room Daddy told me never to open.”
