Chapter 3 - The Cold Paper Trail
By five in the morning, the apartment was filled with two patrol officers from the Grand Rapids Police Department.
Flashlights swept over the balcony floor, illuminating the faint water traces that had mostly dried into dark, salt-rimmed outlines. Officer Miller, a seasoned cop with tired eyes, sat across from Liam at the kitchen table, writing notes in a small black ledger.
"Mr. Vance," Officer Miller said, his tone measured and skeptical. "You’re telling me your wife was forced onto the balcony around midnight, you woke up at three to check on her, saw a body five floors down, but when you looked a second time, the body was gone, leaving only a trail of water?"
Liam sat with a thick blanket wrapped around his shoulders, his hands wrapped around a mug of cold coffee. "I didn't force her... I locked the door. I made a terrible mistake. I listened to my sister."
He glared across the room where Gwen sat on the sofa, calmly speaking on her cell phone with her lawyer, completely unbothered by the police presence.
"And where is the note you mentioned?" Officer Miller asked.
Liam reached into his pocket, but his hand came up empty. He looked down at the table. The waterlogged paper he had placed on the counter earlier was gone.
"It was right here," Liam panicked, standing up. "Gwen! Where is the note?"
Gwen hung up her phone and looked at the officer with a pitying expression. "Officer, my brother hasn't slept in two days. He's under immense financial stress. He dreamed up the note. There was no paper. Nora simply packed her bag while he was asleep and walked out because she knew her financial theft was about to be exposed."
"She didn't take her bag!" Liam yelled, rushing to the hallway closet and pulling out Nora's heavy winter coat, her purse, and her boots. "Her shoes are right here! Her coat is here! It's twenty degrees outside! How could she walk away in bare feet without a coat?"
Officer Miller exchanged a glance with his partner. He stood up, closing his notepad. "Mr. Vance, we’ll file a missing persons report. We’ll check local emergency rooms and search the immediate perimeter around the river. But until we have evidence of foul play, there's not much more we can do right now. I suggest you get some rest."
When the police left, the apartment fell into an unbearable, suffocating quiet.
Liam walked into the bedroom. The bed was unmade on Nora's side. On her nightstand sat a small wooden music box her mother had given her for their wedding.
Liam opened it. A gentle, sad melody played as a tiny painted ballerina spun in circles. Beneath the velvet lining of the box, Liam spotted the edge of a folded yellow receipt.
He pulled it out.
It was a wire transfer receipt from a local credit union dated three days ago.
Recipient: Dr. Arthur Pendelton - Private Archives & Historical Restoration, Petoskey, MI.
Amount: $8,000.
Memo: Payment in full for silence regarding the 2004 Walloon Lake Property Survey.
Liam’s breath hitched. Eight thousand dollars hadn't gone to Nora's mother. It hadn't gone to a secret bank account. Nora had sent every penny she had saved from her small baking business to a historical researcher in Petoskey—Gwen’s hometown.
He gripped the receipt tightly. Gwen had lied about the wire transfers. She knew exactly where that money went because it was connected to something she was desperately trying to hide.
Liam walked out to the living room. Gwen was standing near the front door, her coat on, her car keys in her hand.
"Where are you going?" Liam asked, his voice deathly quiet.
"Home," Gwen said without turning around. "I have a business to run. Call me if the police find her."
Liam walked up behind her, holding out the wire receipt. "Who is Dr. Arthur Pendelton?"
Gwen froze. Her shoulders went rigid beneath her wool coat. She slowly turned around, her face twisting into a sneer of pure desperation.
"You need to leave this alone, Liam," she hissed. "Nora dug into things that don't concern her. She thought she could play detective and ruin this family."
"What family?" Liam screamed. "You made me throw my wife out into the freezing cold! You made me break her heart! Tell me what happened in Petoskey!"
Gwen stepped closer, her eyes glittering with dark malice. "Our father didn't die of a heart attack in 2004, Liam. He drowned in Walloon Lake. And he drowned because Nora's father let him sink to save his own boat. Nora’s family owes us everything we have. Now stay out of it, or you won't have a sister left either."
May you like
She turned, opened the door, and walked briskly down the carpeted hallway toward the elevators.
Liam stood alone in the doorway, staring at the floor. Right where Gwen had been standing, a fresh drop of cold, murky river water hit the carpet with a soft splash.
