Chapter 11 - The Business Trips
My travel calendar became evidence.
Rachel knew every trip.
She encouraged some of them.
When I considered canceling Denver, she told me the client needed me.
When I tried to shorten Seattle, she booked me a later flight.
When Sophie asked to travel with me during summer, Rachel said she needed routine.
The pattern was deliberate.
Most documented injuries happened within forty-eight hours of my departure.
Claire placed the dates on one page.
It looked like a heartbeat.
Travel.
Injury.
Explanation.
Silence.
Travel.
Injury.
Explanation.
Silence.
I stared at it until the words blurred.
Then my company’s travel coordinator called.
Rachel had contacted her directly several times.
She had requested itinerary confirmations.
Once she asked whether I could be kept in Boston an extra night.
The coordinator assumed she was planning a surprise.
The extra night corresponded to Sophie’s rib injury.
I had almost come home.
Rachel stopped it.
Detective Ortiz added obstruction and evidence-related allegations to the investigation.
Then Daniel Cross disappeared.
His office was empty.
His passport had been used at JFK.
Destination Montreal.
Federal authorities were notified.
Rachel’s attorney insisted she knew nothing.
But the hidden phone contained one final recent message.
DANIEL: IF THE HOSPITAL REPORT GOES BAD, WE USE PLAN B.
RACHEL: SOPHIE?
DANIEL: NO.
MARK.
I read the exchange.
“What is Plan B?”
No one knew.
Until my company’s general counsel called.
May you like
A complaint had just been filed accusing me of embezzling two million dollars.
