Chapter 9 - THE AUNT NOBODY TALKED ABOUT
I remembered Aunt Rebecca only from photographs.
Red hair.
Wide smile.
A habit of wearing enormous sunglasses.
My father rarely spoke about her death.
I had assumed grief made the subject difficult.
Now I realized fear might have done the same thing.
“What happened?”
Dad sat at my kitchen table.
“She worked compliance at the bank.”
“With Marianne?”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“I was junior audit staff.”
Rebecca discovered unusual transfers routed through redevelopment accounts.
Some belonged to Derek Shaw.
Others involved Marianne.
She reported them internally.
Two weeks later, she died.
“Car crash.”
Dad nodded.
“Her brakes failed.”
Noah looked at him.
“Was it investigated?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Mechanical failure.”
I almost laughed.
The phrase felt poisonous now.
My mother squeezed Dad’s hand.
He continued.
“After Rebecca died, Marianne tried to alter another account. I caught it. I testified. She lost her job.”
“So she blamed you.”
“Yes.”
“And Derek?”
“I didn’t know he was connected.”
Until now.
The federal investigator assigned to our case reopened the old records.
Twenty-seven years was a long time.
But financial crimes leave shadows.
Insurance.
Repair shops.
Phone records.
Archived bank ledgers.
One detail survived.
Rebecca’s car had been serviced four days before the crash.
The mechanic was dead.
But the shop invoice showed payment by a corporate card.
Shaw Development.
I stared at the copy.
Derek’s company.
He had been twenty-eight then.
Already corrupt.
Already protected.
Noah watched me carefully.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
I looked at him.
He smiled faintly.
It helped.
That bothered me.
Not badly.
Just enough to notice.
Over the next two weeks, everything accelerated.
Martin Keane admitted taking money.
Claire accepted a cooperation agreement.
Marianne was arrested for identity fraud and conspiracy.
Derek publicly called the investigation “politically motivated.”
Gertrude went on local television and claimed I was a vindictive former bride attacking an innocent family.
That clip went viral.
Unfortunately for her, so did the wedding video.
Someone had recorded her locking me outside.
The public watched her point toward the road and tell me to learn humility.
Then they watched Brandon tell me to go along with it.
Comments exploded.
She dodged a whole missile.
Imagine paying for the house and being banned from it.
Take the refrigerator too.
My personal favorite:
THE SOFA HAS LEFT THE CHAT.
For the first time in weeks, I laughed.
Noah was sitting across from me at a coffee shop.
“What?”
I showed him.
He laughed too.
That was the first moment I noticed his eyes were blue.
Which was deeply inconvenient.
I put my phone down.
“You’re my attorney.”
“Yes.”
“Stop having nice eyes.”
He nearly choked on coffee.
I covered my face.
“I cannot believe I said that.”
“I can.”
“Forget it.”
“Absolutely not.”
For ten minutes, life felt normal.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Gertrude.
Her voice was shaking.
“Savannah.”
“What?”
“Derek knows I kept the bank records.”
My amusement vanished.
“Where are you?”
“At the house.”
“Call police.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s here.”
I stood.
Noah immediately did too.
Then I heard Derek in the background.
“Give me the phone.”
Gertrude whispered:
“There’s something you don’t know.”
“What?”
“Rebecca didn’t die because she found the money.”
My blood went cold.
“Then why?”
Gertrude started crying.
May you like
“Because she found the child.”
The line went dead.
