Chapter 9 - The Buried Wire
Marcus didn't leave immediately. He walked back into the guest bedroom, picked up the forty thousand dollars from the floor vent, and neatly stacked the envelopes on the desk. His hands were remarkably steady for a man whose wedding had just been vaporized in front of his eyes.
"Marcus," I said, leaning against the doorframe, my hands still shaking with residual adrenaline. "How did you know? Why did you do this for me?"
Marcus looked up, loosening his silver tie with a tired exhale. "I didn't do it just for you, Elias. I did it for myself. Three days ago, Chloe took my laptop while I was in the shower. She thought I didn't notice. But every time someone accesses my business cloud, I get a biometric alert on my phone. She was downloading my private company financials."
My stomach churned. "She was going to rob you, too."
"She was going to bleed me dry before the ink on our marriage license even dried," Marcus said, pulling a tiny black USB drive from his pocket. "I hired a private forensic firm in Helena that same night. They cloned her phone within six hours. But while they were digging through her texts, I found an audio file recorded on her voice memo app. She didn't mean to record it. Her phone pocket-dialed the voice recorder while she was sitting in Vance's truck two weeks ago."
Marcus plugged the USB drive into his phone, tapped the screen, and set it on the nightstand.
Dad, who had managed to crawl into a sitting position against the wall, stared at the phone with hollow eyes.
A burst of static filled the room, followed by the recognizable clatter of a diesel engine idling. Then came Chloe's sharp, impatient voice:
*"We have to plant the envelope in Elias's luggage the second he walks in the door on Thursday. Dad's already worked up about the missing five grand from last month. If we put forty grand in Elias's bag, Dad won't even call the cops right away—he'll lose his mind and kick him out of the will completely."*
Then Vance's guttural chuckle:
*"Arthur will tear that boy apart. He always hated that Elias looked like Eleanor's side of the family anyway. Once Arthur writes Elias out, that timber deed transfers straight to you, Chloe. We sell the north forty acres to the development company, clear my debts, pay off your store, and Arthur goes to his grave thinking his prodigal son robbed him blind."*
*"What about Marcus?"* Chloe's voice turned chillingly callous on the recording. *"He's an idiot. He believes everything I say. We get married in Cabo, I sign a pre-nup that has an infidelity clause, and six months later I stage photos of him with some hired escort in Miami. I walk away with half his firm, Uncle Vance. We’ll be set for life."*
The recording clicked off.
Dad let out a sound that wasn't human. It was a high, keening shriek of pure psychic agony. He beat his fists against his own thighs, over and over, until his knuckles were purple.
"My daughter..." Dad choked out, bile rising in his throat. "My own little girl... she didn't just want the money... she wanted to destroy us all."
Marcus slipped the USB back into his pocket and looked down at Dad with icy indifference. "She is a monster, Arthur. But you built her. You spent twenty-five years telling her she was a princess who could do no wrong, while you treated Elias like a criminal waiting to happen. You handed her the hammer, Arthur. She just told you which skull to smash it into."
Marcus turned to me. His expression softened slightly, offering a curt, respectful nod.
"The State Police will need your statement tomorrow morning at nine, Elias," Marcus said quietly. "I already spoke to the District Attorney. You won't spend a second in handcuffs. Your name is completely clear."
"Thank you, Marcus," I said, my voice thick with emotion.
May you like
"Don't thank me," Marcus replied, buttoning his jacket as he walked toward the stairs. "Just make sure you don't stay in this graveyard any longer than you have to."
***
