Chapter 7 - Victoria’s Last Lie
Victoria denied it.
At first.
She insisted she had loaned the car to Dominic.
Then investigators showed her another photograph.
A gas-station camera had captured her driving.
Victoria stopped talking.
Audrey attended the interview only through a secure video feed at Reed’s request.
She watched the woman who had humiliated her for years finally run out of explanations.
Victoria removed her pearls.
Placed them on the table.
Then said, “I followed them.”
Detective Ortiz leaned forward.
“Who?”
“Dominic and Richard.”
“To the lake?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Rebecca called me.”
Audrey felt her chest tighten.
Victoria continued.
Rebecca had been terrified.
She told Victoria she was leaving Dominic.
She claimed Dominic and Richard were trying to steal her trust.
Victoria promised to help.
Instead, she called Dominic.
Audrey closed her eyes.
Even now, eight years later, the betrayal felt cruel.
Victoria said she followed them because she became frightened after hearing Dominic’s voice.
At the cabin, an argument began.
Rebecca screamed.
Richard demanded signatures.
Dominic tried to take her phone.
Rebecca ran.
“What happened next?” Ortiz asked.
Victoria stared at the table.
“She reached the road.”
“And?”
“Richard followed her.”
“Dominic?”
“He followed Richard.”
“You?”
“I stayed.”
“Why?”
Victoria began crying.
“I was afraid.”
Audrey stared at the screen.
Everyone was always afraid after someone else paid the price.
“What happened to Rebecca?” Ortiz asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I heard a car.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then?”
“Dominic came back.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Victoria covered her face.
“He said Rebecca was gone.”
“Gone where?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“And you never contacted police?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Richard told me if I spoke, Dominic would go to prison and Natalie would lose her brother.”
Ortiz’s voice hardened.
“So you protected him.”
Victoria whispered, “Yes.”
Audrey turned away from the screen.
There were forms of cruelty that required violence.
Others required silence.
Victoria had chosen silence for eight years.
Later, Audrey walked through the hotel garden.
Her cheek no longer hurt.
The bruise was fading.
Yet the deeper injuries seemed to be multiplying.
Sarah joined her.
“You don’t have to keep watching every interview.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because I spent years being told I imagined things.”
Audrey looked at her.
“I want to know what was real.”
That afternoon, Reed called again.
They had located Richard Hale.
Not physically.
Financially.
A credit card connected to one of his shell companies had been used at a motel eighty miles away.
Police arrived forty minutes later.
The room was empty.
But Richard had left something behind.
A burner phone.
On it were messages between Richard and Dominic.
Most concerned money.
Some concerned Audrey.
One message from Dominic, sent three weeks earlier, read:
She’s checking accounts. We need another plan.
Richard replied:
No improvising. Rebecca happened because you improvised.
Audrey stared at the screenshot.
Rebecca happened.
Not left.
Not disappeared.
Happened.
A phrase cold enough to make her hands shake.
Another message:
Audrey is different.
Richard:
Then make her trust you again.
Dominic:
She won’t.
Richard:
Everyone trusts eventually when fear gets expensive enough.
Audrey handed the phone back to Reed.
“What was the timeline Natalie heard about?”
“We’re investigating.”
But Audrey could see he had a theory.
“So am I in danger?”
“Yes.”
He did not soften it.
Audrey appreciated that.
That evening, police moved her again.
Different hotel.
Different name.
Two officers nearby.
At 2:07 a.m., Audrey woke to her phone ringing.
Sarah.
Audrey answered immediately.
“They found Richard.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“He walked into a police station.”
Audrey sat up.
“What?”
“He surrendered.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
By morning, they did.
Richard Hale had surrendered because he wanted immunity.
He offered information about Dominic.
Financial crimes.
Forgery.
Rebecca.
Everything.
But he wanted a deal first.
Detective Reed was furious.
Audrey felt something else.
Curiosity.
“What does he say happened to Rebecca?”
Sarah hesitated.
“He says Dominic killed her.”
Audrey’s stomach dropped.
“And Dominic?”
“Dominic’s attorney says Richard is lying to save himself.”
Two men.
Two accusations.
One missing woman.
But Richard offered proof.
He claimed Rebecca’s body had never been in the lake.
He gave police coordinates.
Investigators searched the location.
Hours passed.
Then Reed called Audrey personally.
His voice was quiet.
“We found human remains.”
Audrey sat down.
“Rebecca?”
“We need identification.”
But everyone knew what the discovery might mean.
Audrey closed her eyes.
The nightmare had finally acquired a grave.
Yet Reed was not finished.
“There was something buried with the remains.”
“What?”
“A necklace.”
Audrey waited.
“It contains a photograph.”
“Of whom?”
“Dominic and Rebecca.”
Audrey felt tears rise.
Then Reed said something unexpected.
“On the back is an engraving.”
“What does it say?”
He read it.
TO R.S. — WHEN YOU’RE READY, RUN. — A.V.
Audrey stopped breathing.
A.V.
Her initials.
But Audrey had never met Rebecca Sloan.
Someone had engraved Audrey’s initials on a necklace buried eight years before Audrey supposedly met Dominic.
May you like
Which meant one impossible thing.
Someone connected Audrey to Rebecca before Audrey even knew Dominic existed.
