Chapter 10 - THE HOUSEKEEPER REMEMBERED
Our former housekeeper, Rosa Martinez, had worked for us for nine years.
She left six months before Lily died.
At the time, David told me she had retired.
That was another lie.
Rosa contacted me after seeing a brief news report about his arrest.
We met at a quiet café in Oak Park.
She hugged me.
Then she cried when I told her about Lily.
“I loved that little girl.”
“I know.”
Rosa reached into her bag.
“I kept something.”
She pulled out an old flash drive.
“What is it?”
“Security footage.”
I stared at her.
“From the house?”
“Yes.”
David had fired Rosa after discovering her copying files from our office security system.
She told me she had become suspicious because he repeatedly entered my study while I traveled.
“He would sit at your desk.”
“When?”
“Late at night.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
I remembered.
Six months earlier, Rosa had asked to speak privately.
David interrupted.
The next morning, he told me she had quit unexpectedly.
Rosa shook her head.
“He told me if I contacted you, he would accuse my son of stealing.”
My stomach tightened.
“Did your son work for us?”
“Sometimes in the garden.”
The pattern was painfully familiar.
Threaten.
Manipulate.
Control.
Rosa pushed the flash drive toward me.
“I copied one night before he fired me.”
Agent Cole reviewed it that afternoon.
The footage showed David entering my study at 1:14 a.m.
He opened my laptop.
He remained there for twenty-seven minutes.
The date matched the forged email.
But there was more.
At 1:39 a.m., another person entered.
Not Julianne.
A man.
Tall.
Gray hair.
Expensive overcoat.
I recognized him immediately.
Charles Vance.
David’s father.
My father-in-law.
Charles had always treated David like a prince and everyone else like staff.
On the video, Charles stood behind David while he typed.
Then Charles pointed at the screen.
David nodded.
They were not simply in the room together.
They were working together.
Cole replayed the footage twice.
“Did Charles have access to Lily’s trust?”
“Not legally.”
“Could he benefit from David’s businesses?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Charles owns twenty percent of Vance Strategic Holdings.”
Cole sat back.
Suddenly, the investigation was no longer about one dishonest husband.
It was about a family business.
And when agents searched Charles Vance’s office two days later, they found a handwritten ledger.
At the top of one page were three initials.
D.V.
C.V.
M.V.
The first two were obvious.
David Vance.
Charles Vance.
But nobody knew who the third person was.
Until I saw the handwriting.
May you like
And realized I did.
---
