Chapter 2 - THE MISSING MINUTES
Emergency lights flickered on several seconds later.
The hallway filled with a dim red glow.
Sophia was no longer standing in front of Ethan.
“Sophia?”
Ethan turned sharply.
Grace came out of the study holding her phone flashlight.
“She went downstairs.”
Richard reached the security panel.
The screen was black.
“She killed the system.”
Ethan looked at him.
“How?”
Richard’s expression tightened.
“She shouldn’t know the override code.”
Grace stared toward the staircase.
“Then somebody gave it to her.”
Ethan ran downstairs.
He found the front door open.
Cold evening air pushed into the foyer.
Sophia’s car was still parked outside.
“Sophia!”
No answer came.
Richard entered behind him.
“She hasn’t left.”
“How do you know?”
“Her keys are on the table.”
Grace pointed toward the kitchen corridor.
A side door stood slightly open.
Ethan rushed through it.
The garage beyond was empty except for Richard’s vintage Mercedes and several shelves of tools.
Then Ethan heard something.
A metallic click.
He turned.
Sophia stepped out from behind the Mercedes.
She was holding a small black device.
Richard’s face hardened.
“The backup drive.”
Sophia held it against her chest.
Ethan stared at her.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“You have no idea what your father has done.”
Richard stepped forward.
“The drive.”
Sophia laughed bitterly.
“Still giving orders.”
Richard stopped.
“I am not interested in arguing with you.”
“No.”
Sophia looked at Ethan.
“He’s interested in controlling everything.”
Ethan held out his hand.
“Give me the drive.”
Sophia’s jaw trembled.
“You really want to see everything?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Sophia slowly lowered the drive.
Then she smiled.
It was not the smile Ethan knew.
“You’re going to regret that.”
Before anyone could move, Sophia threw the device onto the concrete floor.
She raised her heel.
Richard lunged.
Grace screamed.
Ethan caught Sophia around the waist before her shoe came down.
Richard grabbed the drive.
Sophia fought against Ethan.
“GET OFF ME!”
Ethan released her immediately.
She stumbled away and glared at him.
Richard inspected the device.
The casing was cracked.
Grace stepped closer.
“Is it damaged?”
“I don’t know.”
Sophia laughed again.
“You think that little box is going to save you?”
Richard looked at her.
“No.”
He placed the drive into his pocket.
“But it might tell me why you’re terrified.”
Sophia turned toward Ethan.
“Ask him why he hired someone to follow me.”
Ethan looked at Richard.
“You hired someone?”
Richard said nothing.
Sophia nodded.
“There it is.”
She spread her hands.
“Saint Richard suddenly has nothing to say.”
Grace’s attention shifted toward her father.
“Dad?”
Richard exhaled slowly.
“I hired a forensic accountant.”
Sophia interrupted.
“And a private investigator.”
Ethan stared at him.
“Why?”
Richard looked at his son.
“Because two months ago I discovered transactions I could not explain.”
“That doesn’t explain following my wife.”
“The transfers led to companies connected to her.”
Sophia’s face changed.
Ethan saw it.
Richard continued.
“One company was registered to a post-office box.”
“Another was registered to a man named Caleb Mercer.”
Sophia looked away.
Ethan felt a cold pressure behind his ribs.
Caleb was Sophia’s younger brother.
“What does Caleb have to do with this?”
Sophia answered quickly.
“Nothing.”
Richard reached into his jacket.
He removed another folded document.
“Caleb owns Mercer Development Consulting.”
Ethan frowned.
“I know.”
Richard handed him the paper.
“Then explain why the Whitmore Family Trust paid Mercer Development Consulting nine hundred and sixty thousand dollars for construction projects that never existed.”
Ethan read the page.
His hands began shaking.
Sophia stepped toward him.
“Those were legitimate consulting payments.”
Richard’s voice remained calm.
“For buildings that do not exist.”
“You don’t understand how the contracts were structured.”
“I understand that the addresses listed on six invoices belong to vacant lots.”
Sophia’s eyes flashed.
“You had no right to investigate my brother.”
Richard almost smiled.
“My family’s trust paid his company nearly a million dollars.”
Ethan looked toward Sophia.
“Did you know?”
Sophia hesitated.
That was enough.
Ethan’s voice cracked.
“Did you know?”
“Yes.”
Grace closed her eyes.
Ethan stared at his wife.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you would react exactly like this.”
“Like what?”
“Like a Whitmore.”
Ethan stepped back as though she had struck him.
Sophia continued.
“You all protect him.”
She pointed toward Richard.
“You always have.”
Richard’s expression showed something closer to sadness than anger.
“I protected you too.”
Sophia scoffed.
“You tolerated me.”
“I paid your brother’s medical bills when his insurance refused coverage.”
Sophia looked away.
“I helped your mother keep her house.”
“That was Ethan’s money.”
“It came from me.”
“It came from the family.”
Richard’s voice sharpened for the first time.
“And you decided that gave you permission to steal it?”
Sophia’s eyes widened.
“I did not steal anything.”
Richard reached toward Ethan.
“Turn to page nine.”
Ethan flipped through the papers.
A list of electronic transfers appeared.
Some were approved through Ethan’s corporate account.
Others originated from a trustee portal Ethan rarely used.
Every transaction carried his digital authorization.
Ethan’s stomach tightened.
“I didn’t approve these.”
Sophia folded her arms.
“Maybe you forgot.”
Ethan looked at her.
“What?”
“You sign hundreds of documents.”
“Not these.”
“You’re under stress.”
Ethan stared at her.
It sounded almost casual.
Then he remembered something.
For months Sophia had told him he was overworked.
She had commented that he forgot appointments.
She had reminded him about conversations he could not remember having.
She had joked to friends that Ethan was becoming like his father.
A new thought entered his mind.
“Sophia.”
She said nothing.
“Have you been using my passwords?”
Her eyes moved toward Richard.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Answer me.”
“I know some of them.”
“How?”
“We’re married.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Sophia’s expression hardened.
“You leave your laptop open.”
Grace stared at her.
“So you did.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You practically did.”
Sophia’s anger shifted toward Grace.
“Stay out of my marriage.”
Grace laughed once.
“You just framed our father for assault.”
Sophia’s voice rose.
“Because he cornered me.”
Richard shook his head.
“The footage shows otherwise.”
“The footage shows what he wants it to show.”
Everyone stared at her.
Ethan spoke slowly.
“What does that mean?”
Sophia crossed her arms.
“Richard owns the cameras.”
Grace blinked.
“You think he edited the footage in the last twenty minutes?”
“I think he planned this.”
Richard looked genuinely stunned.
“You staged an assault in front of a camera and now you’re accusing me of staging the recording?”
Sophia looked directly at Ethan.
“He knew what I was going to do.”
Ethan’s expression changed.
“What?”
“He provoked me.”
“You ripped your own blouse.”
“Because I was afraid.”
“You screamed that he touched you.”
“I panicked.”
“You told everyone he attacked you.”
“He had been threatening me.”
Richard’s patience finally broke.
“Threatening to report theft is not the same as threatening you.”
Sophia stared at him.
“So you admit it.”
Richard froze.
Sophia turned triumphantly toward Ethan.
“He threatened to go to the police.”
Richard stepped forward.
“Because millions of dollars are missing.”
“And whose signature is on those transfers?”
Ethan’s face went pale.
Sophia watched him carefully.
Richard spoke.
“Ethan, listen to me.”
Sophia interrupted.
“If Richard reports those transfers, who do you think investigators will blame?”
Ethan looked at the papers in his hands.
His name appeared again and again.
Sophia moved closer.
“You.”
Richard shook his head.
“The signatures were forged.”
“Can you prove that?”
“I believe so.”
Sophia’s eyes narrowed.
“You believe so.”
Ethan looked between them.
Richard continued.
“The forensic review suggests the authorizations were made from different devices.”
Sophia’s face tightened.
“The accountant hasn’t finished the analysis.”
“How do you know that?”
The question escaped Ethan before he could stop it.
Sophia went still.
Richard noticed too.
“How do you know what my accountant has finished?”
Sophia glanced toward the door.
Grace moved closer.
Sophia seemed to realize she had made a mistake.
“I heard you talking.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Where?”
“In the library.”
Richard stared at her.
“I met the accountant in his office.”
Silence fell.
Sophia blinked.
Ethan whispered.
“You didn’t hear anything.”
Sophia’s mouth opened.
No explanation came.
Richard stepped toward her.
“You knew because somebody has been giving you information.”
Sophia shook her head.
“No.”
Richard’s voice became colder.
“Who?”
“No one.”
“Who has access to the investigation?”
“No one.”
Richard looked toward Ethan.
“The accountant.”
Grace added quietly.
“And your attorney.”
Richard’s eyes hardened.
“My attorney would never—”
A sound interrupted him.
Ethan’s phone vibrated.
He pulled it out.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
There was no text.
Only a photograph.
Ethan opened it.
His face changed.
“What is it?”
Grace moved beside him.
The photograph had been taken through a restaurant window.
Sophia sat at a corner table.
Across from her was Daniel Pierce.
Richard’s longtime family attorney.
The timestamp showed that the picture had been taken three nights earlier.
Richard stared at the screen.
Daniel had worked for the Whitmore family for twenty-seven years.
He had written Richard’s will.
He had handled the trust.
He knew every provision controlling the family fortune.
Ethan looked toward Sophia.
“What were you doing with Daniel?”
Sophia did not answer.
Richard’s phone rang.
His eyes remained on Sophia as he answered.
“Richard Whitmore.”
A distorted voice spoke from the other end.
Richard’s expression changed.
“What?”
The call ended.
Grace stepped closer.
“Dad?”
Richard slowly lowered the phone.
“That was the security company.”
Ethan frowned.
“What did they want?”
Richard looked toward the darkened hallway.
“The primary camera archive was remotely accessed eight minutes ago.”
Sophia’s eyes widened.
Richard continued.
“Someone deleted forty-seven minutes of footage.”
Ethan stared at the cracked backup drive in Richard’s hand.
“What forty-seven minutes?”
Richard looked at him.
“The forty-seven minutes before Sophia staged the attack.”
Then Richard’s gaze returned to his daughter-in-law.
May you like
“And now I want to know what happened during the part someone was desperate enough to erase.”
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