Chapter 2
By midnight, the wedding reception had become three separate legal problems.
The first involved Nico striking Ethan.
Nico’s attorney handled that.
The second involved Ethan reaching for Noah.
Elena documented it immediately with witnesses.
The third involved the box.
That one belonged to Rebecca Sloan.
Rebecca had represented Elena during the divorce and was one of the few attorneys Nico respected despite the fact that she routinely ignored his advice.
She arrived at Elena’s townhouse shortly after one in the morning.
The black box remained unopened on the dining table.
Rebecca put on gloves before touching anything.
“You haven’t connected the drive?”
“No.”
“Played the recorder?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Elena looked toward the stairs.
Noah had finally fallen asleep.
Nico sat in the living room with the expression of a man being forced to tolerate civilization.
Rebecca examined the box.
“Tell me exactly how it was found.”
Elena explained the plumbing leak.
The contractor.
The loose boards.
The compartment.
The fact that Noah had been in the doorway when the contractor lifted the box out.
“He asked what it was.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That it belonged to his father.”
“That’s why he knew what to say tonight?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Partly.”
Rebecca did not judge her.
“He also heard me telling Dad that Ethan had hidden it under the office floor.”
Nico spoke from the other room.
“The boy didn’t do anything wrong.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Nobody said he did.”
“He embarrassed Ethan.”
“He is five.”
Nico fell silent.
That was as close to surrender as Rebecca was likely to get.
She photographed the condition of the box and both devices.
The hard drive bore a Caldwell Development asset sticker beneath an old scratch.
That mattered.
If it belonged to Ethan’s company rather than Ethan personally, ownership could become complicated.
The dictaphone had no identifying label.
Rebecca called a digital-forensics firm she trusted.
“No one accesses anything until we know the chain of custody is clean.”
Elena nodded.
Then Rebecca asked the question Elena had been avoiding.
“Why were you at the wedding?”
Nico muttered something in Italian.
Elena ignored him.
“Ethan invited Noah.”
“And you?”
“I was Noah’s transportation.”
Rebecca waited.
Elena sighed.
“Ethan wanted him there for photographs.”
Nico stood.
“He hasn’t acted like a father for eighteen months, but he wanted the boy wearing a navy suit in wedding pictures.”
Elena looked at him.
“Dad.”
“I’m stating a fact.”
Unfortunately, he was.
Ethan had not abandoned legal parenting responsibilities.
He paid support.
He exercised some scheduled parenting time.
But those visits became shorter after the engagement.
Then inconsistent.
Eventually his assistant began arranging nearly everything.
Noah still called him Dad.
Ethan increasingly behaved like a man trying to move into a new life without admitting the old one still existed.
Rebecca closed the box.
“Tomorrow we notify Ethan’s lawyer that potential evidence has been preserved.”
“Evidence of what?”
“I don’t know.”
“That sounds dramatic.”
“It’s less dramatic than plugging in a mystery drive your ex-husband tried to rip away from your son.”
Elena sat back.
She knew Rebecca was right.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from Lila.
Not Ethan.
Can I speak to you without him?
Elena stared at it.
Rebecca noticed.
“Who?”
Elena turned the screen.
Rebecca read it.
Then looked at her.
“Don’t answer tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because right now you don’t know whether the bride is frightened, furious, helping Ethan, or protecting herself.”
Elena looked toward the black box.
At the reception, Lila stepped away the instant she saw the devices.
Now she wanted a private conversation.
May you like
The wedding had barely ended.
And Ethan’s new wife was already asking for distance from him.
