Chapter 4 - WHAT WAS HIDDEN IN THE HELICOPTER
Richard Vale owned a ranch outside Carmel.
I had been there twice as a child.
My father trusted him enough to leave me alone with him.
That memory became poisonous overnight.
By 4:30 a.m., Ortiz had enough to request preservation of the helicopter but not enough to storm private property.
I hated procedure.
Procedure assumed everyone played by rules.
Evan had thrown his pregnant wife into the Pacific.
Rules were no longer the problem.
“What could be in the cargo compartment?” I asked.
Mara shook her head.
“Documents.”
“Weapon.”
“Recording equipment.”
“Or something Evan wanted destroyed.”
Ortiz stood at the window.
“Mercer specifically mentioned it before the fall. That means he knew something was wrong before you went over.”
“Then where is he?”
Nobody had an answer.
At dawn, the Coast Guard publicly changed my status from missing to presumed lost at sea.
Mara hated allowing it.
I watched the announcement from my hospital bed.
My own photograph appeared beneath BREAKING NEWS.
I saw my wedding portrait.
Evan beside me.
His hand around my waist.
The headline read:
HEIRESS MISSING AFTER TRAGIC HELICOPTER ACCIDENT.
I felt nothing.
Then they showed Evan.
He stood behind a microphone outside our home.
“I loved my wife more than anything.”
Liar.
“She was so excited about becoming a mother.”
Liar.
“I keep expecting her to walk through that door.”
That one almost made me throw the remote.
A reporter asked whether the helicopter door had been secured.
Evan lowered his head.
“I don’t know. It happened so fast.”
Another reporter asked about my inheritance.
His expression hardened with perfect dignity.
“This is not about money.”
I laughed.
Mara looked at me.
“What?”
“That line.”
“What about it?”
“He practiced it.”
“How can you tell?”
“Because I’ve watched Evan negotiate.”
On television, my husband placed one hand against his chest.
“When someone you love disappears, money becomes meaningless.”
Then my mother appeared behind him.
I stopped breathing.
She looked ten years older.
Caleb supported her by the arm.
Guilt nearly crushed me.
I wanted to call her.
I wanted to tell her I was alive.
Mara saw it on my face.
“If we tell her, we risk telling Caleb.”
“He’s my brother.”
“And we don’t know what he’s doing.”
As if summoned by the sentence, Mara’s phone rang.
CALEB.
She answered.
“Where are you?” he demanded.
His voice sounded furious.
“Why?”
“Because Evan wants to file the incapacity paperwork today.”
My eyes widened.
Mara looked at me.
“What do you want, Caleb?”
“I want you to stop him.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s lying.”
Everything inside me went still.
Caleb lowered his voice.
“I found something in Lauren’s safe.”
Mara held the phone tighter.
“What?”
“A second will.”
My heart stopped.
I had one will.
Mara drafted it herself.
Caleb continued.
“This one says if Lauren dies while pregnant, Evan receives temporary voting control until the child’s estate is settled.”
“That document is false,” Mara said immediately.
“I figured.”
“How?”
“Because it says Lauren signed it in June.”
Mara looked at me.
I shook my head.
Caleb said, “Lauren was in New York with Mom that entire week.”
“Where is the document now?”
“I have it.”
“Do not give it to Evan.”
“I’m not an idiot.”
I almost cried.
Maybe he wasn’t helping Evan.
Maybe he was pretending.
Then Caleb said, “There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Richard came here last night.”
Mara straightened.
“What did he want?”
“The leather binder.”
My father’s trust documents.
“Did you give it to him?”
“No.”
I exhaled.
Caleb continued.
“So he offered me five million dollars.”
Silence.
“For what?” Mara asked.
“To sign an affidavit saying Lauren had become mentally unstable before the accident.”
The hospital room seemed to close around me.
Mara’s face went hard.
“What did you say?”
Caleb’s answer came without hesitation.
“I asked for ten.”
I stared at the phone.
Mara stared back at me.
Caleb continued quietly.
“He thinks I’m going to betray my sister.”
For the first time since the helicopter, I smiled.
“Good,” Mara whispered.
Caleb went silent.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
He hadn’t heard me.
He didn’t know I was alive.
Mara recovered.
“When are you meeting Richard?”
“Tonight.”
“Where?”
“His ranch.”
Ortiz was already writing the address.
Then Caleb added:
“And Mara?”
“Yes?”
“I heard Richard talking to Evan.”
“What did they say?”
A long silence.
Then:
“They weren’t worried about Lauren surviving.”
My smile vanished.
“What were they worried about?” Mara asked.
“The pilot.”
May you like
Caleb lowered his voice further.
“They said Mercer took something from the helicopter before he disappeared.”
