Chapter 7 - REBECCA’S SECRET
Rebecca did not resist.
She placed her phone on the table.
Then her bag.
Then she looked at Daniel.
“I did not steal from Sophie.”
Laura said:
“Save it for the interview.”
Daniel felt betrayed all over again.
“You had access to my office?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Once.”
“When?”
“The night Emily died.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“What?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“She called me.”
The room went silent.
Daniel stared at her.
“Emily called you?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because she asked me not to.”
“Emily is dead.”
“I know.”
“For eight months!”
“I know.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“What did she ask you to do?”
“Go to your office.”
“Why?”
“She believed Vanessa was using your credentials for transfers.”
Daniel’s breathing quickened.
“She wanted me to download access logs.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Then where are they?”
Rebecca looked at Laura.
“In my safe.”
Daniel stared.
“You had evidence?”
“I didn’t know what it meant until after Emily died.”
“So you hid it?”
“I protected attorney-client material.”
“Emily wasn’t your client.”
“You were.”
“Then why didn’t you give it to me?”
Rebecca’s voice cracked.
“Because I was scared.”
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“Not you too.”
“Yes.”
“What did Vanessa have on you?”
Rebecca’s silence answered first.
Then:
“My brother.”
Daniel frowned.
“What about him?”
“He had gambling debts. Serious ones. Years ago.”
Daniel knew nothing about it.
“Vanessa found out?”
“She paid some of them.”
Daniel’s stomach turned.
“Of course she did.”
“Then she kept the records.”
“So she blackmailed you.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Two years.”
Daniel stared at the woman who had stood beside him through every legal battle.
“What did you do for her?”
“Small things at first.”
“What small things?”
“Changed meeting dates. Delayed document delivery. Told her when you were updating estate plans.”
Daniel felt sick.
“Did you help steal from Sophie?”
“No.”
“Did you know?”
“Not until Emily called me.”
“Did you tell Vanessa Emily knew?”
Rebecca shook her head violently.
“No.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“No.”
“Then why were you in my office?”
“To get the logs.”
Laura asked:
“Did you use Daniel’s credentials?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Rebecca looked at her.
“Vanessa was already there.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“When I arrived, your office door was open.”
“Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
Daniel’s pulse jumped.
“Who was with her?”
Rebecca’s face went white.
“Gregory.”
Laura leaned forward.
“Did they see you?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Vanessa told me Daniel had authorized emergency transfers.”
“Did you believe her?”
“No.”
“What did you do?”
“I left.”
Daniel exploded.
“You left?”
Rebecca flinched.
“My brother had received a photograph twenty minutes earlier.”
“What photograph?”
“His daughter leaving school.”
Daniel stopped.
Vanessa had threatened a child.
Again.
Rebecca continued.
“There was a message: ‘Family problems spread.’”
Daniel’s anger did not disappear.
But it changed shape.
“You should have gone to police.”
“Yes.”
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
“You should have told Emily.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Rebecca cried.
“Because I was a coward.”
The word hung in the room.
Daniel knew that answer now.
Grant.
Michael.
Eleanor.
Gregory.
Rebecca.
Different degrees of guilt.
Different choices.
Same excuse.
Fear.
But Rebecca had one thing the others did not.
The access logs.
Police searched her safe.
They found printed records and a USB.
The logs showed Vanessa using Daniel’s office computer at 9:48 p.m. the night Emily died.
Gregory entered at 9:52.
At 10:03, the $250,000 transfer to Eleanor Price was initiated.
Emily fell at 10:41.
Vanessa and Gregory had been moving money before confronting Emily.
That sequence mattered.
It showed planning after discovery.
Containment.
Cleanup.
Then the confrontation.
Rebecca’s withheld evidence became a major part of the prosecution.
It also destroyed Daniel’s trust in her.
He hired another attorney.
Rebecca offered to resign from every role connected to the family.
Daniel accepted.
Before leaving, she asked to speak with Sophie.
“No.”
Rebecca nodded.
“I understand.”
Daniel watched her walk down the mansion steps.
Part of him wanted to hate her.
But hate was becoming exhausting.
Vanessa had built a system where everyone carried a secret.
Secrets made people controllable.
Daniel decided his home would operate differently.
That evening, he sat with Sophie at the kitchen table.
“There’s something I want us to do.”
“What?”
“If something scares you, we say it.”
“Okay.”
“If I make a mistake, you can tell me.”
Sophie smiled.
“You make lots.”
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
“Thank you.”
“You burned eggs yesterday.”
“That was one mistake.”
“And you forgot my library book.”
“Two.”
“And you said Pluto is a planet.”
Daniel frowned.
“It should be.”
Sophie laughed.
For a moment, the house felt alive again.
Then the doorbell rang.
Security answered.
A woman stood outside holding an envelope.
She introduced herself as Natalie Brooks.
Emily’s college friend.
Daniel had met her only twice.
She looked nervous.
“I should have brought this sooner.”
Daniel opened the door.
“What is it?”
Natalie handed him the envelope.
“Emily mailed this to me the week she died.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“Why didn’t you give it to police?”
“I never opened it.”
“What?”
“She wrote on the back: ‘Only open if Daniel contacts you.’”
Daniel stared.
“I never did.”
“I know.”
“Why bring it now?”
“I saw the news.”
Daniel opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
Natalie, if Daniel contacts you after something happens to me, give him the photograph. Do not send it electronically.
Behind the letter was a printed photograph.
Vanessa.
Gregory.
And Rebecca.
Standing together outside a hotel.
Date-stamped six months before Emily died.
Daniel’s face hardened.
Rebecca had told police Vanessa began blackmailing her two years ago.
Maybe true.
But in the photograph, Rebecca was not frightened.
She was smiling.
The three were holding champagne glasses.
Natalie whispered:
“Emily thought Rebecca was helping them.”
Daniel felt sick.
Had Rebecca confessed only part of the truth?
He called Laura immediately.
Police brought Rebecca back in.
This time, confronted with the photograph, she broke further.
The hotel meeting had been about estate documents.
Vanessa wanted to know whether Daniel could be declared temporarily incapacitated if he suffered an emotional breakdown.
Rebecca had explained the legal standard.
She claimed she did not know why.
Emily learned about the meeting months later.
That was when she stopped trusting Rebecca.
Daniel understood now why Emily had hidden everything.
She did not know who was safe.
Not even the family lawyer.
Rebecca finally admitted one more thing.
Vanessa asked her to draft a temporary guardianship document for Sophie.
“If Daniel becomes unstable,” Vanessa had said.
Rebecca drafted it.
Never filed.
Never signed.
But the document existed.
Vanessa was planning beyond Emily.
If Emily disappeared and Daniel broke under grief, Vanessa intended to gain control of Sophie.
And Sophie’s trust.
Daniel looked at Laura.
“She wanted my daughter.”
Laura nodded.
“Or access to what came with her.”
Daniel walked home that night with one thought.
Vanessa had not merely killed Emily to protect a theft.
She had been trying to restructure the entire family around herself.
Emily stood in the way.
So Emily was removed.
Daniel might have been next.
And if Daniel fell apart, Vanessa would become Sophie’s guardian.
The plan had almost worked.
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Except Emily had hidden a silver key inside a teddy bear.
And Sophie had finally whispered the truth.
