Chapter 4 - Twenty-Seven Seconds

The recording was almost useless.

Almost.

It began inside Nora's purse, so the image showed darkness and flashes of fabric. The audio was muffled by leather.

But voices came through.

Celeste: "Throw her off the cliff, son!"

Nora: "Please."

Daniel: "Forgive me."

Then the impact.

Twenty-seven seconds.

Daniel's lawyer arrived before detectives finished listening.

By midnight, Daniel refused to answer questions.

Celeste claimed the words were misunderstood.

"I said 'pull her off the cliff,'" she insisted. "As in rescue her."

Detective Mae Rourke stared at her.

"And your son said 'forgive me' before rescuing his wife with his truck?"

Celeste folded her arms.

"He was panicking."

Nora lay two floors above them in labor triage, listening to the baby's heart on a monitor.

Alma sat in a chair with both palms bandaged.

"You should sleep," Nora said.

"You first."

"I'm attached to six machines."

"Excellent excuse."

Nora looked at the ceiling.

"Why did my father give me that case?"

Alma said nothing.

Nora turned her head.

"You know."

Alma's mouth tightened.

"I know he was afraid of Daniel's mother."

"Everyone says that after a person tries to murder you. Nobody says it before."

Alma flinched.

Good, Nora thought.

Then felt ashamed.

Alma had just jumped down a cliff for her.

Still, gratitude did not erase anger.

"Tell me."

Alma explained that Nora's father, Peter Bennett, had co-founded Voss Maritime with Daniel's father thirty years earlier. After Peter died, Nora inherited forty-one percent of the voting stock.

"I knew that."

"You knew the number. You did not know the clause."

Nora stared at her.

If Nora died without a living child, the shares could be bought back by the Voss family at an old fixed valuation.

If her child was born alive, the shares transferred into an independent trust for the child and could not be bought back.

Nora went cold.

"I'm thirty-four weeks."

"Yes."

"So they needed me dead before the baby was born."

Alma looked down.

Nora's contraction monitor spiked.

A nurse rushed in.

Dr. Hsu followed.

"Fetal heart rate is dropping. We need to move. Now."

Nora reached for Alma.

"Don't let Daniel sign anything."

Alma nodded.

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Then the nurse said, "Daniel already filed as your medical proxy.