Chapter 13 - The Watch That Never Stopped
Agent Brooks obtained an emergency warrant to retrieve the deposit box.
Inside were Thomas’s watch, his wedding ring and a folded photograph of Maya and Alex as children.
A federal technician repaired the damaged charging port.
The watch powered on for the first time in three years.
Most of the data was corrupted.
But one audio application had continued recording on the morning of the crash.
The first sound was Thomas entering the company garage.
Then Trent’s voice appeared.
“You copied the vendor files.”
Thomas answered, “I copied everything.”
“You have no idea what you’re destroying.”
“I’m saving my daughter.”
Footsteps moved across the concrete.
Thomas said, “Maya will know the truth by tonight.”
A second male voice entered the recording.
Richard.
“She’ll believe her husband before she believes a frightened old man.”
Thomas laughed once.
“My daughter may forgive a liar. She will never forgive a murderer.”
A metallic tool struck the ground.
Then Richard said, “Make sure the camera loop holds for ten minutes.”
The recording ended several minutes later when Thomas entered his car.
Maya listened from her hospital bed.
Tears moved silently down her face.
Alex paused the audio.
“You don’t have to hear the rest.”
“Yes, I do.”
The final minute contained Thomas’s breathing as he drove through the storm.
Then a sudden warning alarm sounded.
Thomas tried the brakes.
He whispered Maya’s name.
The signal ended.
Agent Brooks immediately requested new warrants.
Police searched Richard’s properties and discovered a burner phone hidden behind a false wall in his home office.
The phone contained messages with the garage mechanic.
Most were coded.
One was not.
TEN MINUTES. NO CAMERAS. FULL PAYMENT AFTER THE ROAD.
Richard and Celeste were arrested before sunrise.
But even from jail, the Holloways continued their plan.
Trent’s attorney filed an emergency petition claiming Maya had attacked Trent during a psychotic episode.
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Attached to the petition was the forged psychiatric report.
👉 The Holloways were facing murder charges, yet they were still trying to convince a judge that Maya was the dangerous one.
