Chapter 15 - Olivia Returns
“Where are you?” Rachel asked.
Olivia’s breathing was uneven.
“At the bus terminal.”
“Who knows?”
“I can’t explain over the phone.”
“You helped Marcus try to take my house.”
“I know.”
“You testified that the plan was his.”
“I said what I had to say.”
Rachel looked at Tessa.
Tessa silently mouthed, Keep her talking.
“Why are you calling now?” Rachel asked.
“Because Marcus disappeared yesterday.”
Rachel felt no immediate fear for him. Marcus had lied under oath, forged financial documents, and tried to turn her home into a marital asset through deception. His absence could be another performance.
“Have you contacted the police?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because the people looking for him would hear about it.”
Olivia gave Rachel the number of a storage locker and asked her to come alone.
Tessa shook her head firmly.
Rachel agreed to the meeting but changed the location. She told Olivia to wait inside a busy twenty-four-hour café near the courthouse.
They left the underground room locked and took the ledger with them. Tessa stored it inside a document case and contacted a private security officer she trusted.
Olivia sat in a corner booth when they arrived.
She looked different from the woman who had once walked through Rachel’s house as though she owned every room. Her hair was hidden beneath a wool hat. She wore no makeup. A purple bruise marked the side of her wrist, but Rachel did not ask how she had received it.
Olivia placed a cheap mobile phone on the table.
“This belonged to Marcus.”
Rachel did not touch it.
“How did you get it?”
“He left it at my apartment.”
“When?”
“Two nights ago.”
Tessa sat beside Rachel.
“Start at the beginning.”
Olivia glanced around the café.
“Marcus met a man named Victor Saye eight months before the wedding. Victor knew Marcus owed money. He offered to clear the debts if Marcus married Rachel and gained a legal interest in her property.”
Rachel kept her voice steady.
“Marcus agreed to marry me for the house?”
“At first, he said he would only persuade you to refinance it. Then the instructions changed.”
“Who gave the instructions?”
“Victor worked for Northline.”
Olivia unlocked the phone and opened a series of encrypted messages. Most referred to Rachel as RB and the house as Asset 46.
The final message had arrived the night Marcus disappeared.
PHASE ONE FAILED. INITIATE CONTINGENCY. REMOVE ALL UNCONTROLLED PARTIES.
“Does uncontrolled parties mean Marcus?” Tessa asked.
Olivia nodded.
“And you?”
Olivia’s eyes filled with fear.
“I think so.”
Rachel scrolled farther back.
One message contained an attachment: a photograph taken through the kitchen window. Rachel stood beside the open pantry wall with Tessa.
The timestamp showed that it had been taken less than two hours earlier.
They had been watched while opening the box.
Rachel looked up from the phone.
“Who else knew about the wall?”
May you like
Olivia answered slowly.
“No one who is supposed to be alive.”
