Chapter 4 - The Shadows in the Ledger
The arrest of Marcus Vance sent shockwaves through Silver Creek, but the poison ran far deeper than a single corporate office. Within forty-eight hours, the town’s fragile facade began to crack open like dry earth after a drought.
I spent those two days in the state police headquarters in Canton, sitting behind a two-way mirror as Inspector Reyes interrogated the people who shared my blood.
My mother sat in an interview room under the harsh glare of fluorescent lights. Her hair was unkempt, her makeup smeared across her cheeks. She looked smaller, stripped of the matriarchal authority she had wielded over our family for decades.
"I didn't know Derek was going to hurt her!" she sobbed into her hands, her voice muffled by the metal table. "Marcus told me Clara was having an affair! He said she was trying to blackmail the company and ruin Alex’s career! I locked the door because I thought... I thought they were just arguing!"
"You locked the door from the outside, Teresa," Reyes’ voice was a hammer dropping on iron. "And when the child started screaming, you threatened to send her to an orphanage if she didn't stay in her room. We have the kid’s statement recorded with a child psychologist."
My mother squeezed her eyes shut, unable to answer.
In the adjacent interrogation room, Derek was singing like a bird. Striped of his bravado and facing thirty years to life for aggravated burglary and third-degree murder, he laid out the entire operational structure of Vance’s network.
"Beatrice’s funeral home wasn't just hiding Clara’s body," Derek admitted, his knuckles white against his knees. "We’ve been using the hearses to transport the non-manifested ledgers and cash payments between Vance’s real estate holdings for three years. Every time a county inspector came around, Aunt Beatrice would schedule a 'private transport' to clear the warehouse."
I turned away from the glass, sickness rising in my throat.
"Alex," Inspector Reyes said, stepping into the observation room with two paper cups of lukewarm coffee. She handed one to me. "The state medical examiner finished the secondary autopsy on Clara an hour ago."
My heart hammered against my ribs. "What did they find?"
"She didn't die from a fall, and she didn't take an overdose," Reyes said gently, looking me straight in the eye. "She suffered severe blunt force trauma to her ribs, but the cause of death was acute asphyxiation. Someone held a pillow over her face while she was pinned down."
I slammed my cup down onto the counter, hot coffee splashing across my knuckles. "Derek."
"Not just Derek," Reyes corrected, pulling a forensic photo from her folder. "We recovered skin fragments from under Clara’s fingernails. The DNA matches Derek... and your mother."
The room spun. I had to grab the edge of the table to keep my balance. My own mother hadn't just stood outside the door—she had gone inside to finish what her golden boy had started when Clara refused to hand over the flash drive.
"They're going away for life, Alex," Reyes promised, her hand resting firmly on my shoulder. "Every single one of them."
"Not yet," I rasped, wiping my face with the back of my hand. "Vance’s legal team filed an emergency bail motion in the county court an hour ago. They’re using a judge Vance appointed to his charitable foundation."
May you like
Reyes’ eyes darkened. "Judge Harrison."
"Harrison won't let Vance step out on the street," I said, reaching for my coat. "Because I’m going to make sure the media gets the unedited files before the bail hearing starts."
