Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE GLASS
My mother stared at the observation window.
She could not see through it, but she knew someone was there.
“Who else is listening?”
I remained seated.
“You said the footage could disappear.”
“I was speaking emotionally.”
“You brought a twelve-page contract.”
Her eyes moved toward the door.
It opened before she reached it.
Detective Ortiz entered with two officers.
“Margaret Bradford, we need you to remain in the room.”
My mother lifted her chin.
“Am I under arrest?”
“Not at this moment.”
“Then I’m leaving.”
Cassandra stepped from behind the detective.
My mother froze.
“You.”
Cassandra’s face was pale, but her voice was steady.
“Yes. Me.”
My mother looked from Cassandra to me.
“You have no idea what she is. She agreed to all of it.”
Cassandra flinched.
I turned toward her.
“All of what?”
My mother laughed without humor.
“The dress. The accusation. The speech Preston planned to give after the phone was found. She knew.”
Cassandra’s eyes filled with tears.
“She’s right.”
For one terrible moment, the room tilted.
“You said you thought Preston was going to accuse me.”
“He was.”
“You knew he planned to frame someone.”
“Yes.”
“And you still married him.”
“I thought it would be an accusation against you, not Sophie. He told me you had stolen documents from the company and he was going to expose you.”
“You helped him?”
Cassandra nodded.
“I told the wedding coordinator to place your table near the head table. I made sure the photographer was nearby when Preston announced the phone was missing.”
My mother smiled.
“See? She is not a witness. She is an accomplice.”
Cassandra faced her.
“But I did not choose Sophie’s jacket.”
My mother’s smile faded.
“You did.”
“I did nothing of the sort.”
“I heard you tell Preston that a child would be more believable because guests would assume Evelyn taught her to steal.”
My mother looked toward Detective Ortiz.
“This woman is lying to save herself.”
Cassandra took out her phone.
“No. Preston recorded you.”
Detective Ortiz held up the flash drive.
“We are already examining the files.”
My mother’s confidence cracked.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
She gathered her purse.
“I will not answer another question without counsel.”
Detective Ortiz stepped aside.
“You are free to leave. An officer will escort you.”
My mother stopped beside me.
“You think you have won something.”
“No.”
I looked directly into her eyes.
“I think you have finally been heard.”
She left without saying goodbye.
Cassandra remained near the wall.
I wanted to hate her.
Part of me did.
She had helped build the stage on which Sophie was humiliated.
Maybe she had not known Preston would use a child, but she had accepted cruelty as long as she believed the victim would be me.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
I stood.
“Sorry is what people say when they want forgiveness without consequences.”
“I’ll accept the consequences.”
“You may have to.”
Detective Ortiz spoke before the argument could continue.
“Ms. Bell has agreed to provide a complete statement and cooperate with the financial investigation.”
I looked at Cassandra’s left wrist.
Dark bruises circled it beneath the sweatshirt sleeve.
“Did Preston do that?”
She pulled the sleeve down.
“After he was released, he came to the bridal suite. He wanted the flash drive.”
“What happened?”
“He locked the door. He said I had embarrassed him by leaving the ballroom. When I told him I knew about the trust, he grabbed me.”
She stared at the floor.
“He kept asking where I had copied the files.”
“How did you get away?”
“I told him the drive was inside the wedding safe. When he went to look, I ran into the corridor and found a housekeeper.”
Detective Ortiz added quietly, “The hotel photographed her injuries and preserved the hallway footage.”
Cassandra removed the wedding ring from her pocket and placed it on the table again.
“I thought marrying him would make me safe.”
“Why?”
“My family lost everything when my father became ill. Preston paid his medical bills. He made me believe I owed him my life.”
I knew that kind of debt.
Not the financial kind.
The emotional debt powerful people created when they performed one act of generosity and demanded years of obedience in return.
Cassandra looked toward Sophie’s room.
“I should have walked away the first time he laughed about hurting you.”
“When was that?”
“At your grandmother’s funeral.”
A chill moved across my skin.
“What did he say?”
“That you would never know what Ruth tried to leave you.”
Detective Ortiz’s phone rang.
She stepped into the corridor to answer.
Marcus gathered the contract my mother had brought.
“This document requires Evelyn to relinquish her trust rights and refuse cooperation with any civil or criminal proceeding.”
He looked at me.
“It also contains a confidentiality clause covering conduct by Preston, your parents and Bradford Development.”
“They expected me to sign away everything.”
“They expected fear to do the negotiating for them.”
The door opened again.
Detective Ortiz returned.
Her expression was grim.
“Mason Price has been arrested.”
“Where?”
“At a bus station near the Indiana border.”
Relief rushed through me.
“Did he confess?”
“Not yet. But he had one of the prepaid phones and a key card used to access the hospital service floor.”
Cassandra sat down.
“Then it’s over.”
Detective Ortiz shook her head.
“Not quite.”
She placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Mason’s confiscated phone.
On the screen was a message sent less than an hour earlier.
FINISH THE HOSPITAL JOB. THE GIRL CANNOT APPEAR IN COURT.
The sender was saved under one initial.
P.
Preston.
Detective Ortiz looked at me.
“We now have probable cause to arrest your brother for solicitation, witness intimidation and conspiracy.”
“Where is he?”
“Officers went to your parents’ house.”
My heart began pounding.
“And?”
“He was gone.”
My father claimed Preston had been asleep upstairs.
The bedroom window was open.
His passport was missing.
So were two hundred thousand dollars from the family safe.
Police issued an alert at airports, train stations and border crossings.
Then the cybercrime unit unlocked one of Mason’s deleted messages.
It had been sent by Preston fifteen minutes after he escaped.
PREPARE THE PLANE.
May you like
My father owned a private aircraft at Midway Airport.
And according to the flight plan filed that evening, it was scheduled to depart for a country with no extradition treaty in forty-seven minutes.
