Chapter 11 - THE RECORDING
Claire would not let me plug the flash drive into my laptop.
“For once,” she said, “we do this properly.”
Her firm copied it using a clean machine and preserved the original.
The drive contained one audio file.
Twenty-seven minutes.
Recorded fourteen days earlier.
Theresa’s voice came first.
“You said the audit was contained.”
Arthur answered.
“It was until corporate started asking about Farraday.”
“Mitchell says his adjustments were less than eighty.”
“They were.”
“Then why are you telling him four hundred?”
A pause.
Arthur’s voice lowered.
“Because if the company thinks the client loss and the investment shortfall are connected, everybody starts pulling records.”
“You’re making Mitchell cover your money.”
“I’m making the numbers close.”
“He can’t find four hundred thousand dollars.”
“He doesn’t need four hundred.”
“How much?”
“Two-forty gets us through the first review.”
I felt Claire look at me.
Two hundred forty thousand.
The exact HELOC amount.
The recording continued.
Theresa sounded angry.
“Danielle won’t agree.”
Arthur laughed quietly.
“Then stop asking her.”
I closed my eyes.
The next section was worse.
Arthur described the corrective deed as “already useful.”
He said adding Mitchell to title gave them enough appearance of ownership to move a lender further into underwriting.
Theresa asked about signatures.
Arthur replied, “Remote files are easier than people think.”
Then he said Lauren’s name.
Not as mastermind.
As a vulnerability.
“Mitchell has the Voss girl wrapped around his finger. She’ll push the file because she thinks they’re leaving together.”
My stomach tightened.
Lauren had been used too.
Not innocently.
But deliberately.
Arthur knew about the affair and treated it like another financial tool.
Theresa’s voice came back.
“And Danielle?”
Arthur said, “She’ll either sign when Mitchell tells her how bad it is or she’ll get angry enough to leave. Either works.”
The audio ended soon afterward.
No confession to every act.
No cinematic speech.
Just people discussing fraud like an inconvenience.
Claire removed her headphones.
“This is significant.”
“Can we use it?”
“We need to establish how Theresa recorded it, whether she was a participant, whether the file is authentic, and what proceeding we’re talking about. North Carolina is generally a one-party consent state for a conversation a participant is part of, but we verify everything before we rely on it.”
I nodded.
Real life again.
Steps.
Proof.
Not instant justice.
I called Lauren through her attorney and told her there was a recording mentioning her.
By evening, Lauren’s attorney had contacted Claire.
Lauren was willing to turn over the voicemail she had kept from Mitchell.
It arrived the next morning.
Mitchell’s voice.
Lauren, just get it through initial review. Mom says the ID will pass. Danielle will either sign later or she’ll leave once this gets ugly. I need this handled before Arthur’s deadline.
I listened once.
Only once.
That was enough.
Mitchell could no longer claim he had merely panicked at the last second.
He had known.
He had planned.
He had allowed his mother to make my home unbearable because my discomfort served a financial purpose.
That afternoon, Claire filed for temporary relief concerning the townhouse and began the process of challenging the deed.
I also requested a protective order based on Theresa’s assault.
Mitchell texted twice.
I did not answer.
At 6:03 p.m., he sent a third message.
Mom gave you the recording, didn’t she?
I showed Claire.
“Don’t respond emotionally.”
I typed:
Why do you think she did?
His answer came immediately.
Because Arthur didn’t just use me.
He used her first.
Then another message.
And if she gave you that recording, she finally figured out what I figured out last night.
I waited.
The typing bubble appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
May you like
Arthur isn’t trying to save the company anymore.
He’s trying to make all three of us look like the people who stole from it.
