Chapter 6 - THE DETECTIVE WHO NEVER GOT THE LETTER
Detective Marcus Reed remembered Olivia's crash without checking a file.
"Rainy Thursday. Route 47. Guardrail impact. No second vehicle confirmed."
We met in a conference room at Commonwealth Bank.
Nathan sat across from him.
I placed Olivia's sealed envelope on the table.
Reed didn't touch it.
"How did you get this?"
I explained Box 417.
His expression sharpened.
"Nobody notified me."
The bank manager joined us with archived records.
After Olivia died, the bank had mailed notification to Reed at the address supplied by Olivia.
The letter came back marked "recipient unavailable."
Reed had worked at that same precinct for twelve years.
The address was correct.
Someone had intercepted or redirected the notice.
The manager produced a scanned service request submitted three days after Olivia's death.
It instructed the bank to suspend all correspondence relating to Box 417 because of "pending estate litigation."
The request carried the letterhead of Carter & Welles, the law firm that handled my family's estate planning.
Signed by senior partner Charles Welles.
Charles had been my father's attorney before he became mine.
He had officiated the private signing of my prenup with Vanessa.
I called him.
He answered on the second ring.
"Arthur."
"Did you order Commonwealth Bank to stop sending notices about Olivia's box?"
Silence.
Then: "Where are you?"
"Answer me."
"We need to speak in person."
"Yes or no?"
"Arthur, Olivia was under tremendous emotional strain before her death."
Reed looked at me.
That phrase.
Make her look unstable.
Exactly what Olivia had written.
"You knew about her investigation."
Charles exhaled.
"I knew she believed company funds were being mishandled."
"Did you stop the notification?"
"I acted on instructions."
"Whose?"
"I won't discuss privileged communications over the phone."
I almost shouted.
Instead I asked the one question that mattered.
"Mine?"
"No."
"Olivia's?"
Another pause.
"No."
Reed wrote something on his pad.
I felt Nathan shift beside me.
"Then whose instructions were you following?"
Charles said, "Come to my office."
The call ended.
Reed finally opened Olivia's envelope after the bank documented the chain of custody.
Inside were copies of the same financial records and a handwritten statement.
Olivia wrote that she had confronted "V" about Vantage Meridian.
V had responded with a threat concerning Ethan.
No specifics.
No accusation of murder.
No proof Vanessa caused the crash.
But enough to reopen questions.
Reed looked at me.
"This doesn't prove homicide."
"I know."
"It does justify reviewing whether evidence was overlooked."
"I know."
Nathan leaned over the papers.
His finger stopped on a date.
Two days before Olivia's crash, one Vantage payment had been reversed.
One day after her death, it was reissued.
Authorization: AC-01.
My credentials.
But I had spent that entire day at the hospital with newborn Maya.
Someone hadn't merely stolen from my company.
May you like
They had been impersonating me while my wife lay dead.
📖 Charles Welles agreed to meet us, but before I could reach his office, Vanessa made a move that put my children—and my reputation—at risk. 👇
