Chapter 3 - THE SISTER WHO NEVER LEFT
They worked quickly.
Ethan photographed every document.
Chloe counted the cash.
One hundred eighty thousand dollars.
Sarah photographed the serial numbers on the gold bars.
Then they placed everything exactly where they had found it.
At 8:19 a.m., the box was underground again.
At 8:32, Sarah sat in her car three streets away and typed a name she had not searched in years.
Rachel Morgan.
She found a small interior-design firm in Connecticut.
There was a photograph on the company's website.
Sarah stared at it.
Rachel was older.
Her hair was shorter.
But it was unmistakably her sister.
Sarah called.
A receptionist answered.
Sarah almost hung up.
Instead, she said,
“Tell Rachel that Sarah Harper is calling.”
Silence.
Then:
“One moment.”
Thirty seconds later, another voice came through.
“Sarah?”
Sarah gripped the phone.
Neither sister spoke.
Finally Rachel whispered,
“Oh my God.”
Sarah's eyes burned.
“I found the money.”
The silence on the other end changed.
“What money?”
“The money you've been sending Daniel.”
Rachel stopped breathing.
Sarah continued.
“The payments marked for me. For Chloe. For medical bills.”
“Sarah…”
“Why were you sending my husband money?”
Rachel sounded confused.
“I wasn't sending Daniel money.”
Sarah frowned.
“I was sending you money.”
That sentence changed everything.
Rachel explained.
Five years earlier, she had contacted Daniel because Sarah had blocked her number after their final argument.
Rachel wanted to repair things.
Daniel told her Sarah wasn't ready to speak.
But he also told Rachel the family was struggling.
Chloe's tuition.
Medical expenses.
Mortgage problems.
Rachel had done well financially.
So she offered to help.
Daniel gave her an account number.
“He said it was your joint emergency account,” Rachel said.
“It isn't.”
“I know that now.”
Sarah looked through the windshield without seeing anything.
“How much?”
Rachel hesitated.
“Over five years?”
“Yes.”
“Almost four hundred thousand dollars.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
The box contained less than half that amount in cash.
Rachel continued.
“Daniel sent me messages thanking me on your behalf.”
“My behalf?”
“He said you were embarrassed and didn't want to speak to me directly.”
Sarah's voice became quieter.
“You thought I knew?”
“I thought you knew everything.”
Sarah pressed her fingers against her forehead.
Then Rachel said something worse.
“Sarah, why did you say I stole Dad's money?”
Sarah opened her eyes.
“Because you did.”
“No.”
“Daniel showed me the paperwork.”
“What paperwork?”
“The withdrawal from Dad's account after he died.”
Rachel was silent.
Then:
“Sarah, I never withdrew that money.”
Sarah's stomach tightened.
“I spent three years trying to prove that.”
Sarah remembered Daniel arriving home with copies of bank statements.
Rachel's signature.
A transfer.
$92,000 missing from their father's estate.
Daniel had told Sarah he discovered it while helping organize probate documents.
“That signature was forged,” Rachel said.
Sarah whispered,
“By whom?”
“I never knew.”
Rachel paused.
“But I know who had access to every document.”
Sarah already knew the answer.
Daniel.
Before ending the call, Rachel sent Sarah copies of five years of emails.
Every email was from Daniel.
Every one spoke for Sarah.
She's grateful.
She isn't ready to talk.
The medication is expensive.
Chloe's tuition increased.
We're behind on the mortgage.
Thank you for helping us.
Sarah sat inside her car for almost an hour.
Then a new message arrived from Chloe.
MOM. I FOUND VANESSA COLE.
Underneath was an address.
An apartment twelve miles away.
Sarah looked at the address.
She recognized the neighborhood.
It was one of the most expensive residential developments in the county.
Another message followed.
The lease is in her name.
May you like
But Dad pays everything.
Sarah started the engine.
