Chapter 5 - THE DETECTIVE'S FILE
The cafeteria was deathly silent, save for the hum of the industrial refrigerators in the kitchen.
Detective Miller walked slowly into the room, his eyes scanning David, Mrs. Harper, and finally resting on me. He held the manila folder like it was a loaded weapon.
“What do you mean she didn't die of an aneurysm?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. The ground felt like it was crumbling beneath my feet.
Miller stopped a few feet away. “Four years ago, the medical examiner ruled Sarah’s death a ruptured brain aneurysm. But three weeks ago, we received an anonymous package at the precinct. It contained Sarah’s original medical charts, heavily redacted, and a ledger proving someone had paid the medical examiner fifty thousand dollars the day after she died.”
I let go of David’s collar. He slumped against the brick wall, coughing and straightening his tie.
“She was murdered,” I breathed, the horror sinking in.
“We believe she was poisoned,” Miller stated flatly. He opened the folder and pulled out a glossy photograph. It was a still frame from a traffic camera. It showed a white truck parked outside a pharmacy. The logo on the side was a black triangle with a red line. Apex Solutions.
“The truck,” Claire whispered, clutching my leg.
“Exactly, Claire,” Miller said gently. He looked at me. “Apex Solutions isn't just David Thorne’s shell company. It’s a private security and fix-it firm. And David didn't hire them this week. He hired them four years ago to deal with Sarah when she threatened to expose his embezzlement.”
I turned slowly to look at David. My partner. The man who had been the best man at my wedding. The man who had bought Claire her first bicycle.
“You killed my wife,” I said. It wasn't a question.
David held up his hands, backing away along the wall. Panic completely overtook his features. “James, you have to understand! She was going to destroy everything we built! The company, the legacy, the wealth! She found out about the offshore accounts. She was going to the FBI!”
“So you murdered the mother of my child?” I roared, stepping toward him with my fists clenched.
“I didn't do it!” David shrieked, pointing a trembling finger at Mrs. Harper. “She did! Linda did it!”
Mrs. Harper let out a horrified gasp, dropping her leather portfolio. “David, how could you!”
“Linda was Sarah’s sister!” David yelled, the secrets spilling out of him like blood from a wound. “Linda is the one who slipped the digitalis into Sarah’s tea. I just paid her for it! Linda wanted the money to secure her position at this school!”
I froze. I looked at Linda Harper. She was Sarah’s estranged older sister. They hadn't spoken in a decade, but Linda had leveraged her maiden name to get the administrative job at Hawthorne. My sister-in-law had poisoned my wife for a payout.
Mrs. Harper was shaking violently. “Sarah was always the perfect one! The wealthy wife with the perfect husband! She treated me like charity! David offered me a quarter of a million dollars. I deserved that money, James!”
I felt sick to my stomach. My daughter had been starving herself in a school cafeteria overseen by the woman who murdered her mother.
Detective Miller stepped forward, pulling a pair of handcuffs from his belt. “Linda Harper, you are under arrest for the murder of Sarah Callahan. David Thorne, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder and corporate embezzlement.”
As Miller cuffed Mrs. Harper, David made a sudden, desperate move.
He didn't run for the door. He dove for the floor, grabbing my father’s silver pocket watch where it had fallen. With a violent twist, David popped the back casing off the watch.
A tiny, black micro-SD card fell into his palm.
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“You think you have it all figured out, Detective?” David sneered, backing toward the kitchen doors with the memory card. “This card has the digital keys to the Cayman accounts. Five million dollars of Callahan & Thorne’s operating capital. If I go to prison, this company goes bankrupt tonight, and James loses everything.”
He turned and sprinted through the swinging doors into the commercial kitchen.
