Chapter 9 - Melissa Was Trying to Destroy One Drive
Melissa requested an attorney.
That slowed everything down.
As it should.
Real investigations do not become less important because families want immediate answers.
Eventually, through evidence and properly obtained statements, the picture became clearer.
Melissa had placed the beetles inside the boot.
She admitted that much.
Her reason was bizarre but calculated.
One of the drives contained information she wanted preserved.
Another contained information she wanted destroyed.
The third was a decoy.
She expected Greg to deliver the boot to someone the next morning.
She believed that person would remove the pouch but would not examine the rest of the boot carefully.
The insects were meant to damage or contaminate a thin dissolvable wrapper around one smaller component hidden outside the pouch.
Except her plan failed.
Moisture accumulated.
The insects escaped.
Lily’s skin suffered.
And Greg never made the delivery because Sarah noticed Lily was in pain.
Everything collapsed.
I listened to the explanation twice.
Then asked the only question that mattered to me.
“Why use Lily?”
Melissa’s answer came through her attorney later.
Because Greg already had.
That sentence made me furious.
Melissa was trying to shift moral responsibility.
Greg created the hiding place.
Melissa exploited it.
Both adults had looked at a six-year-old and seen camouflage.
Neither had stopped.
The digital evidence revealed another small secret.
The failed company had indeed diverted money.
Greg wasn’t imagining that part.
His $84,000 was one of several investments caught in the collapse.
But he had no legal right to steal family savings to make the investment.
Being deceived did not erase his own deception.
Then investigators found the damaged component Melissa wanted destroyed.
It contained transaction records.
Not military secrets.
Not government intelligence.
Financial evidence.
And one name appeared repeatedly.
Melissa Carter.
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My sister hadn’t merely discovered the fraud.
She had participated in part of it.
