Chapter 4
The ballroom had become so quiet that the faint crackle of the cassette tape sounded deafening.
Detective Laura Hayes placed the old recorder on the banquet table.
"This recording has remained sealed in police archives for seventeen years," she said.
"It disappeared before it could be entered into evidence."
She looked directly at Victor.
"Until someone anonymously returned it."
Victor's face had turned as white as marble.
His attorney, who had been standing quietly among the guests, hurried forward.
"My client has the right—"
"You may object later," Judge Bennett interrupted calmly.
"But everyone in this room has just witnessed a possible confession."
The attorney fell silent.
Detective Hayes pressed PLAY.
Static filled the room.
Then a younger voice emerged.
Victor's.
Nervous.
Uneasy.
Detective: "Mr. Ashford, when was the last time you saw your niece?"
Victor: "Around midnight."
Detective: "Was the child alone?"
A long pause.
Then...
Victor: "No."
Catherine closed her eyes.
She remembered giving exactly the same statement seventeen years earlier.
Except she had said Emily was asleep.
Victor had never mentioned seeing her after midnight.
The tape continued.
Detective: "Who was with the baby?"
Another pause.
Much longer this time.
Victor answered quietly.
"Margaret."
Gasps echoed throughout the ballroom.
Detective Hayes stopped the recording.
"When this interview was originally conducted, Mr. Ashford denied seeing Margaret at all."
She held up the original transcript.
"The written statement and the recording do not match."
Someone had altered the official report.
Victor's attorney stepped forward again.
"This proves nothing."
"People misspeak."
Detective Hayes nodded.
"You're right."
"That's why there's another recording."
She removed a second cassette from the archive box.
Victor whispered,
"No..."
His knees buckled slightly.
Catherine noticed.
"You know what's on it."
He couldn't answer.
The second tape began.
This one had been recorded inside the Ashford estate's study.
The voices were quieter.
One belonged to Victor.
The other...
Margaret Holloway.
The elderly midwife.
Everyone leaned closer.
Margaret's trembling voice filled the ballroom.
"I won't do it."
Victor answered coldly.
"You don't have a choice."
A collective gasp spread across the room.
Margaret continued.
"She's an innocent baby."
Victor replied,
"She's standing between me and everything."
Catherine covered her mouth.
Her tears returned instantly.
The tape continued.
Margaret: "Edward would never forgive you."
Victor laughed softly.
"Edward will never know."
Then came the sentence that froze every person in the ballroom.
"Take the child far away."
"Make sure Catherine never finds her."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Detective Hayes stopped the recording.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Grace stared at Victor.
"You..."
"...you wanted me to disappear."
Victor's lips trembled.
"It wasn't supposed to happen like this."
Catherine slowly stood.
"For seventeen years..."
"I blamed myself."
"I thought I had failed my daughter."
She stepped closer.
"My husband died believing we'd never see her again."
Another step.
"You watched me mourn every birthday."
Another.
"You attended memorial services."
"You comforted me while knowing the truth."
Victor looked down.
"I never meant for Edward to die."
"But Catherine wasn't listening anymore.
"You meant for my daughter to disappear."
He had no answer.
Because there wasn't one.
Judge Bennett looked toward Detective Hayes.
"Is there anything else?"
She nodded.
"There is one final piece of evidence."
She removed a thick envelope marked CONFIDENTIAL.
"It contains financial records from seventeen years ago."
Victor suddenly shouted,
"Don't open it!"
Everyone turned toward him.
It was the first time all evening he had completely lost control.
Detective Hayes calmly opened the envelope.
Inside were bank transfers.
Offshore accounts.
Wire receipts.
And one payment made the morning after Emily disappeared.
Recipient: Margaret Holloway.
Amount:
$500,000.
The ballroom erupted.
Victor immediately pointed at the document.
"See?"
"I paid her to leave!"
"That proves she kidnapped the child!"
Detective Hayes slowly shook her head.
"No."
She held up another document.
"The money was never accepted."
The transfer had been rejected.
Returned to sender.
Three days later.
Margaret had fled with the baby...
Without taking a single dollar.
She hadn't been paid.
She had sacrificed everything to protect Emily.
Grace looked toward Catherine.
"My grandmother always struggled."
"We moved constantly."
"She worked as a seamstress."
"Sometimes we barely had enough food."
Catherine's heart broke all over again.
"If she'd taken the money..."
Grace nodded.
"We would've lived comfortably."
"But she always said..."
'Some things are worth more than money.'
Catherine whispered through tears,
"She saved my daughter."
Detective Hayes nodded.
"Yes."
"But one question remained unanswered for seventeen years."
She turned slowly toward Victor.
"Why?"
Victor closed his eyes.
For a long moment...
No one spoke.
When he finally looked up...
The arrogance was gone.
Only defeat remained.
"I'll tell you."
He took a deep breath.
"You deserve the truth."
The ballroom waited.
Because whatever Victor confessed next...
Would reveal that this had never been about jealousy alone.
May you like
It had been about an inheritance so enormous...
That someone had decided a three-month-old baby had to disappear.
