The police took Samuel away before sunrise.
Mara remained outside the old terminal with Elena and Eva until the last patrol car disappeared beyond the service road. Nobody spoke about what had happened inside. The questions were too large, and the morning was too quiet.
Eva stood with her hands buried in her jacket pockets.
“Is he going to prison?”
Elena looked at Mara before answering.
“I don't know.”
Eva nodded.
She did not cry.
Mara noticed that.
After everything the girl had survived, she had learned to hold emotion close until she knew it was safe to release it.
A police officer approached carrying a transparent evidence bag.
Inside was Samuel's recorder.
“Mara Voss?”
“Yes.”
“We found this in the room.”
Mara looked at the recorder.
“We already heard it.”
“There is another file.”
Mara's eyes narrowed.
“Another?”
The officer nodded.
“It's encrypted. The technician said you may recognize the voice.”
Mara took the bag.
She did not open it there.
Elena noticed her expression.
“What is it?”
“Something Samuel didn't tell us.”
They returned to the lake house after the officers left.
Daniel's old house no longer felt like Daniel's.
Perhaps it never had.
Mara sat in the study with the recorder on the desk. Elena and Eva sat opposite her. The sisters had arrived shortly afterward, and Claire, Lena, and Sophie remained unusually quiet.
The device contained three files.
The first was the recording they had already heard.
The second was damaged.
The third was labeled only with a date.
Mara entered the date of Flight 417.
The file opened.
Static filled the room.
Then came a voice.
“Samuel, listen carefully.”
Mara froze.
It was Daniel.
Not the man who had pretended to be Daniel.
The real Daniel.
His voice sounded younger, frightened, and exhausted.
“I know what you're doing. I know about the accounts.”
Samuel's voice answered.
“I can explain.”
“You don't have time.”
There was a pause.
Then Daniel said something that changed the room.
“Cole isn't the person you should fear.”
Mara looked at Elena.
The recording continued.
“Someone inside the investigation is feeding him information.”
Samuel asked, “Who?”
Daniel answered.
“I don't know.”
Then came a sound.
A door opening.
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
Claire finally spoke.
“So Arthur Bell was right.”
Mara shook her head.
“Not completely.”
She replayed the final seconds.
The door.
The footsteps.
A faint metallic sound.
A ring.
Mara stopped the file.
“There.”
Lena frowned.
“What?”
“Listen.”
They listened again.
The ring sounded twice.
Mara had heard it before.
At the lake house.
On the old photograph.
At the airport.
She looked toward Elena.
“Who else had access to Daniel's office?”
Elena thought.
“His attorney. His accountant. His security team.”
“Anyone else?”
She shook her head.
Then Sophie spoke.
“Uncle Samuel.”
Mara looked at her.
“Samuel?”
“He had a key.”
“Why?”
“Dad gave him one.”
Mara leaned back.
The mystery seemed to circle them again.
Samuel had been guilty of serious things.
He had built the financial network.
He had hidden his identity.
He had put Eva on the aircraft.
But he might not have been responsible for the murder.
Mara refused to turn suspicion into certainty.
She had learned what happened when people filled gaps with assumptions.
She stood.
“We need Arthur.”
Elena looked at the clock.
“He's gone.”
“What?”
“He left before us.”
“Where?”
“He said he had another appointment.”
Mara immediately called him.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
Then her phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
STOP LOOKING FOR THE VOICE.
Mara stared at it.
A second message followed.
YOU ALREADY KNOW WHO SPOKE.
Eva stood.
“Who is it?”
Mara showed her.
Eva read the message.
Then she looked at Mara.
“I think I know.”
Mara waited.
Eva pointed toward the photograph from the lake house.
“The man beside my mother.”
Mara looked.
“You think that's the voice?”
“No.”
Eva shook her head.
“I think the person standing behind him is.”
Mara picked up the photograph.
There was a reflection in the glass door behind the group.
She had ignored it before.
Now she enlarged the image.
A face appeared in the reflection.
Partially hidden.
But recognizable.
Mara felt her stomach tighten.
She knew the face.
Not from Flight 417.
From the reopened investigation.
The assistant assigned to Arthur Bell.
The person who had handled the archived documents.
The person who had delivered copies of the amended report.
His name was Peter Sloan.
Mara called Arthur again.
This time he answered.
“Where are you?”
Arthur's voice was strained.
“Leave the house.”
“Why?”
“Because Peter found you.”
Mara looked toward the windows.
“What does he want?”
Arthur breathed heavily.
“The original report.”
“You said he was your assistant.”
“He was.”
“Then why?”
“Because he wasn't working for me.”
A crash sounded outside.
Everyone turned.
Mara moved toward the window.
A black vehicle had stopped beside the driveway.
Peter Sloan stepped out.
He looked directly at the house.
Mara understood immediately.
The past had not been finished.
Someone had simply been waiting for the last piece.
Click Here to continue read next: PART14: Peter Sloan Arrived With a Familiar Story, but Mara Refused to Let Another Carefully Constructed Lie Decide What Happened
The Argument in the Lakeside House Began With One Question Nobody Expected the Flight Attendant to Answer
Part 13 of 16
