I put Daniel Shaw on speaker.<\/p>\n
Grady leaned closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cSay that again,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Daniel hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cRandall wants the story contained.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat story?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one where Kelsey stole the money and Nathan helped her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what is Randall hiding?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence filled the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Shaw.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother spent twenty-five years making sure nobody connected him to what happened to Robert.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grady gripped the edge of the car door.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father died from an aneurysm.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you saying Randall killed him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel answered so quickly that I believed the distinction mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe threatened him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked through the windshield at the townhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYears ago. Repeatedly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Robert had evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRandall was skimming from Midwest Clinical Supply.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKelsey told us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel exhaled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen she finally read the drive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Robert do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe confronted Randall.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c1999.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the year Robert left commercial equipment sales.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey fought.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPhysically?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grady whispered, \u201cDad never told us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel heard him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert\u2019s son.\u201d<\/p>\n
A long silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d Grady demanded.<\/p>\n
Daniel did not answer.<\/p>\n
I took over.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you calling now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Randall is out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe may have kidnapped Marlene.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe called me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty minutes ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom where?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat he needed me to clean up another mess.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother has been using me for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m an accountant.\u201d<\/p>\n
That fit too neatly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou handled his companies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWeston?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMidwest Clinical Supply?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Robert left.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you involved in stealing from it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you prove that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not asking you to trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone involved seemed to say that eventually.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you know about Robert\u2019s custodial account?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel became quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen start talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe account wasn\u2019t originally meant to hide Randall\u2019s money. Robert opened it with family money, exactly like you probably believed.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest loosened by a fraction.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLater he added money recovered from Midwest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRecovered how?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRandall had been routing customer payments into a separate account. Robert found one of the accounts and transferred part of the money back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInto our son\u2019s account?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Into a company recovery account first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did some reach Grady?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause when the company collapsed, Robert believed part of the recovered funds represented unpaid compensation owed to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas he right?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least Daniel admitted uncertainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout thirty-eight thousand originally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen the rest of the sixty-three thousand came from growth?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInterest and investments over the years, probably.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t Robert tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t answer that.\u201d<\/p>\n
I could imagine reasons.<\/p>\n
Shame.<\/p>\n
Fear.<\/p>\n
A desire to leave the past dead.<\/p>\n
None excused the silence.<\/p>\n
Grady asked, \u201cWhy did Randall believe the money belonged to him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Randall believes anything he can reach belongs to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. The evidence is in Robert\u2019s ledger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it show?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDates, invoice numbers, diverted payments, transfers, and Randall\u2019s initials.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered Robert\u2019s meticulous checkbook.<\/p>\n
Of course he had kept a ledger.<\/p>\n
He had been incapable of leaving numbers unexplained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t he go to police?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel took several seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Randall threatened Grady.\u201d<\/p>\n
My son went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew your school. Baseball schedule. Things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
A memory surfaced.<\/p>\n
Robert suddenly insisting that I pick Grady up from practice rather than letting him ride with another family.<\/p>\n
Robert changing our home phone number.<\/p>\n
Robert installing brighter lights outside the garage.<\/p>\n
I had thought he was becoming overly cautious after a burglary two streets away.<\/p>\n
Maybe that had been partly true.<\/p>\n
Maybe I had spent decades living beside consequences whose cause I never knew.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened after Robert left?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cRandall took control of what remained of Midwest. It failed within a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the threats?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStopped eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Robert disappeared into ordinary life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The phrase struck me.<\/p>\n
Robert had loved ordinary life.<\/p>\n
Saturday hardware-store trips.<\/p>\n
Baseball on television.<\/p>\n
Complaining about property taxes despite being married to someone who worked in the assessor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Perhaps ordinary life had also been camouflage.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Randall contact Robert again?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSix years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
My hand tightened around the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow close to his death?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grady looked at me.<\/p>\n
I could not speak for a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Randall want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe account.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did he know it still existed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s voice broke slightly.<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
The apology waiting beneath everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was reconciling old records. I found a transfer connected to Robert.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you told Randall.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe went to see Robert.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid they meet?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRandall came back furious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Robert say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat if Randall contacted his family, he would send the ledger to federal investigators.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Grady.<\/p>\n
His face had gone gray.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree weeks later Dad died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Randall cause the aneurysm?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel answered carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no evidence of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither did we.<\/p>\n
Fear was not proof.<\/p>\n
Timing was not proof.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you say Randall wants to hide what he did to Robert?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he blackmailed him for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThreats against you. Threats to make Robert look like the thief. Threats to expose transactions that Robert himself had handled improperly while trying to recover the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was more complicated than innocence.<\/p>\n
More believable too.<\/p>\n
Robert had not been a secret criminal mastermind.<\/p>\n
He had been a frightened man who made choices he later buried.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does Randall want from Kelsey?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA confession that places the entire modern scheme on her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf police focus on Kelsey forging documents and moving Grady\u2019s money, Randall becomes an old acquaintance who gave her bad information.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the drive connects him to the old theft.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Nathan\u2019s attack?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel went quiet.<\/p>\n
\u201cRandall hired someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know his real name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Randall tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said the man got carried away.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered the message.<\/p>\n
You were told to get the file, not put him in the hospital.<\/p>\n
Maybe Kelsey had sent it.<\/p>\n
Maybe Randall.<\/p>\n
The phone itself did not prove authorship.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the meeting location?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAn old warehouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cConnected to Midwest?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAddress?\u201d<\/p>\n
I gave Daniel the map pin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s inside?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOffices in front, storage in back. Two vehicle entrances.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAny other exits?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA loading dock.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wrote it down.<\/p>\n
\u201cCall the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRandall will know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe already knows you\u2019re against him if you\u2019re calling me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. He thinks I\u2019m still helping.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen help by ending this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel breathed hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sending you something.\u201d<\/p>\n
My phone chimed.<\/p>\n
An image arrived.<\/p>\n
A scanned letter.<\/p>\n
Robert\u2019s handwriting.<\/p>\n
I knew it immediately.<\/p>\n
Karen\u2014<\/p>\n
If Randall ever comes near you or Grady, there are records Daniel can access. Do not believe the version where I stole from him. I made mistakes trying to recover what he took, and I should have told you. I was afraid telling you would put you in the same danger.<\/p>\n
The image ended there.<\/p>\n
My eyes blurred.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the rest?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRandall has the original.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe took it from Robert.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir last meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how do you have this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI photographed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you give it to me six years ago?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s answer was almost inaudible.<\/p>\n
\u201cCowardice.\u201d<\/p>\n
I could not argue.<\/p>\n
Grady leaned toward the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cSend everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to get to my files.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty minutes from my office.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the time.<\/p>\n
Kelsey was already headed toward the warehouse with police.<\/p>\n
\u201cCall Officer Vega.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
I gave him the officer\u2019s name and told him to call the department immediately.<\/p>\n
Daniel agreed.<\/p>\n
Then he said, \u201cKaren.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRandall will try to make you think Robert was just like him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Robert stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer was not absolution.<\/p>\n
But it mattered.<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
Grady sat silently beside me.<\/p>\n
Finally he said, \u201cDad knew he might have to tell us someday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he still didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you angry?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was protecting us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was also deciding what we were allowed to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The similarity to Kelsey was impossible to miss.<\/p>\n
Grady noticed too.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody keeps doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor our own good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward the townhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did it to you too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
This time neither of us softened the answer.<\/p>\n
A patrol officer remained outside. I told him about Daniel\u2019s call.<\/p>\n
Within minutes, he was speaking urgently over his radio.<\/p>\n
Then Officer Vega called me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe received information from Daniel Shaw.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Kelsey safe?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you at the warehouse?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t discuss operational details.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStay where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m becoming excellent at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He ignored the joke.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not contact Randall.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he contacts you, call us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The line ended.<\/p>\n
Ten minutes passed.<\/p>\n
Then fifteen.<\/p>\n
Grady paced.<\/p>\n
I read Robert\u2019s letter image repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Each time, another phrase hurt.<\/p>\n
I made mistakes trying to recover what he took.<\/p>\n
Robert had not claimed purity.<\/p>\n
That sounded like him.<\/p>\n
When he apologized, he rarely decorated it.<\/p>\n
Twenty-eight minutes after the police left, my phone rang.<\/p>\n
Kelsey.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you all right?\u201d<\/p>\n
She whispered, \u201cKaren.\u201d<\/p>\n
Behind her came a hollow metallic echo.<\/p>\n
\u201cKelsey?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKnows what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat the police are here.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Officer Vega?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
A loud bang sounded.<\/p>\n
Then Kelsey gasped.<\/p>\n
\u201cKelsey!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI found Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs she hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another sound.<\/p>\n
A man shouting.<\/p>\n
Then Randall\u2019s voice came through clearly enough that I recognized it despite never hearing him before.<\/p>\n
\u201cGive me the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelsey said something I could not understand.<\/p>\n
A struggle.<\/p>\n
The call remained open.<\/p>\n
Then Randall spoke directly into it.<\/p>\n
\u201cKaren.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grady heard.<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
I held the phone tighter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Marlene?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSafe enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Robert took.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut his wife is still spending his money.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Grady.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you have the wrong wife. I didn\u2019t know the account existed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
His certainty chilled me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why involve me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Robert always believed you were the innocent one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care what you thought of my marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPut Kelsey back on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPut Marlene on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen there\u2019s nothing to discuss.\u201d<\/p>\n
I moved to end the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cKaren.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert left something for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cA recording.\u201d<\/p>\n
My breath caught.<\/p>\n
Grady stared.<\/p>\n
Randall continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe made it the day before he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do you have it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he gave it to the wrong man.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel?\u201d<\/p>\n
Randall laughed softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he has been talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome to the warehouse and you can hear Robert explain everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to know what your husband said?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want Kelsey and Marlene alive more.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
Then Randall\u2019s voice hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have forty minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
Grady reached for his keys.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has Kelsey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police are already there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants us moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sitting here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither was I.<\/p>\n
But before we could argue, Officer Vega called.<\/p>\n
His breathing was heavy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs. Whitlow, listen carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are Kelsey and Marlene?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have Marlene.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relief hit so fast I had to sit down.<\/p>\n
\u201cKelsey?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have her.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cRandall?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRear loading exit. He had another vehicle staged.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Kelsey?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grady turned away and struck the side of his fist against the wall.<\/p>\n
Vega continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need you to tell us exactly what Randall said.\u201d<\/p>\n
I repeated it.<\/p>\n
When I mentioned Robert\u2019s recording, Vega went quiet.<\/p>\n
Then he said, \u201cMrs. Whitlow, whatever he offers you, do not go to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Robert\u2019s unfinished letter on my phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere would he take her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marlene\u2019s voice suddenly sounded in the background.<\/p>\n
Weak but urgent.<\/p>\n
\u201cKaren?\u201d<\/p>\n
Vega must have put the phone near her.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarlene.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know where.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lake house.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat lake house?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRandall\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
She gave an address near Lake Mercer, nearly an hour north.<\/p>\n
Then she began crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe kept Robert there too.\u201d<\/p>\n
I put Daniel Shaw on speaker. Grady leaned closer. \u201cSay that again,\u201d I said. Daniel hesitated. \u201cRandall wants the story contained.\u201d \u201cWhat story?\u201d \u201cThe one where Kelsey stole the money … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4757,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4739\/revisions\/4757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}