Chapter 8 - ANNA’S BACKUP
According to Evelyn, Michael was searching for a small black flash drive.
Anna had created it shortly before she died.
She believed money was being stolen from Lily’s trust.
She copied bank statements, emails, authorization logs, and internal documents.
Then she hid the drive.
Michael had spent two years trying to find it.
“Why didn’t Evelyn tell anyone?” I asked Collins.
“Because the drive could implicate her too.”
The answer was obvious.
Still, hearing it made me sick.
I searched every place Anna might have trusted.
Her jewelry box.
Her old desk.
A locked drawer in our bedroom.
Nothing.
Then Lily asked a simple question.
“What about Mom’s recipe book?”
Anna had loved cooking.
She wrote everything by hand inside an enormous red binder.
After she died, I stored it in the kitchen cabinet because looking at her handwriting hurt too much.
I opened it that evening under police supervision.
Between a recipe for apple pie and Anna’s handwritten notes for Lily’s fourth birthday cake was a small envelope.
DANIEL.
My hands began shaking.
Inside was a flash drive.
And a note.
If you are reading this, something happened before I could explain everything.
Michael has been taking money.
I do not believe he is working alone.
Do not confront him without proof.
Protect Lily first.
Always protect Lily first.
I sat on the kitchen floor and cried.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
I simply folded over the note and cried until I could breathe again.
Detective Collins waited beside the doorway.
She did not interrupt.
When I finally looked up, she said, “Anna knew you would find it eventually.”
“No.”
I looked at the recipe binder.
“She knew Lily would.”
The flash drive contained hundreds of files.
One folder was labeled MICHAEL.
Another was labeled MOM.
Evelyn.
A third folder surprised everyone.
SLOAN.
Robert Sloan’s name appeared on seventeen internal emails approving transfers from the trust.
In one message, Anna confronted him.
You told me Daniel approved this.
Daniel says he never saw it.
Explain immediately.
Robert’s response came eleven minutes later.
Let’s discuss this in person.
Do not involve Evelyn until we understand the accounting.
Another file contained a voice memo Anna had secretly recorded.
Robert’s voice filled the kitchen.
“If Daniel finds out now, everything comes apart.”
Then Michael answered.
“He won’t.”
Anna had recorded them.
She had proof.
And they had known she did.
Collins stopped the audio.
“There are forty-three more minutes.”
I looked at the screen.
May you like
The next file had a date.
The night before Anna died.
