Chapter 7 - EMILY
Her name was Emily Cole.
She was thirty-seven.
She looked nothing like Vanessa.
Where Vanessa was polished and controlled, Emily appeared exhausted.
Her coat was wrinkled.
Her hands shook.
She carried an old leather folder against her chest.
The moment she saw Sarah, she stopped.
“You're Sarah Mitchell.”
Sarah nodded.
“How do you know me?”
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
“Michael talked about you.”
Daniel stiffened.
“You knew Michael?”
Emily looked at him.
“I tried to warn him.”
Sarah felt anger rise.
“When?”
“Before he married Vanessa.”
Sarah stepped closer.
“Then where were you after he died?”
Emily flinched.
“Terrified.”
Daniel crossed his arms.
“Start at the beginning.”
Emily explained that Vanessa had been born Vanessa Cole.
Lucas was their half brother.
Their mother died when Vanessa was nineteen.
By twenty-three, Vanessa had already learned how to manipulate people with money.
Lucas handled documents.
Vanessa handled relationships.
Emily wanted no part of it.
Years earlier, she discovered Vanessa had married a man in another state under a different surname.
That marriage ended with the man's sudden death.
No charges were filed.
Emily confronted Vanessa.
Two days later, someone broke into Emily's apartment.
Pictures of her daughter were left on the kitchen table.
Emily disappeared from Vanessa's life after that.
Until Michael.
“I saw their engagement announcement.”
Emily wiped tears from her cheek.
“I called him.”
“He didn't believe me.”
Sarah thought of Michael's recording.
“Eventually he did.”
Emily nodded.
“He contacted me about two months before he died.”
Daniel asked the question nobody wanted to ask.
“Did Vanessa kill him?”
Emily looked at him.
“I can't prove she personally did it.”
Then she opened her folder.
“But I can prove Michael was investigating her when he died.”
Inside were copies of emails.
Michael had sent them to Emily.
One subject line appeared repeatedly.
PROJECT BLACK WIDOW.
Daniel read through the messages.
Michael had traced Vanessa and Lucas to shell companies.
He believed they were connected to Richard Hales.
Then Daniel reached the final email.
It had been sent at 10:14 p.m. the night before Michael's death.
I FOUND THE MASTER ACCOUNT.
Below it was a number.
Sarah stared.
“I've never seen this.”
Emily nodded.
“He called me after sending it.”
“What did he say?”
“That if he could identify the person controlling the account, Vanessa would be finished.”
Daniel asked, “Did he?”
Emily looked down.
“He said the initials were R.H.”
Richard Hales.
The room went silent.
Reed immediately called for a warrant.
Then Emily grabbed Sarah's wrist.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“Vanessa contacted me six months ago.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“What did she want?”
Emily looked directly at him.
“She told me she was getting married.”
Sarah whispered, “Why tell you?”
Emily's voice trembled.
“Because she wanted me to know she finally found the man who could make all of this disappear.”
Daniel's eyes hardened.
“Me?”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
“She wasn't talking about your death.”
“She was talking about your company's records.”
