Chapter 16 - The Voice Behind Every Crime
Federal technicians decrypted the drive that night.
Daniel remained in the hospital under observation.
Claire stayed beside him.
For hours, they waited while investigators reviewed hundreds of files.
Just before dawn, Detective Mason entered the room carrying a tablet.
“We found the original trial reports.”
Daniel sat up.
“And Rebecca’s recordings?”
Mason placed the tablet on the table.
“There are forty-seven.”
The first recording was dated three years earlier.
Margaret’s voice filled the room.
“Remove the adverse events before the board review. Investors do not pay for hesitation.”
Victor answered:
“If someone discovers the changes?”
“Then remove the person who discovered them.”
Another recording documented illegal payments to doctors.
Another showed Margaret ordering Victor to create secret accounts.
Then Mason played a recording made two months earlier.
Daniel heard his own name.
Margaret said:
“My son will shut down the launch if he sees the full data.”
Victor replied:
“Then keep him away from it.”
“I raised Daniel. I know how to control him.”
“And if you cannot?”
A long silence followed.
Then Margaret spoke.
“His wife will make a useful widow.”
Claire’s hand went cold inside Daniel’s.
Mason stopped the recording.
Daniel stared at the blank screen.
All his life, he had defended Margaret.
When she insulted Claire, he had called it grief after his father’s death.
When she excluded Claire from family decisions, he had said she needed time.
When employees complained about Margaret’s cruelty, he had believed she was simply demanding.
He had mistaken control for love.
Claire squeezed his hand.
“This is not your fault.”
“I kept asking you to forgive her.”
“You did not know she wanted you dead.”
“I knew she wanted power.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“I just never believed she wanted it more than she wanted her son.”
Mason spoke gently.
“She has been charged. The recordings also connect her to the nurse who disappeared.”
Claire looked up.
“Daniel’s nurse?”
“She is alive. Agents found her at a motel under another name. Margaret paid her to leave after Victor threatened her daughter.”
The nurse had already agreed to testify.
Mason continued.
“There is one more recording you need to hear.”
He pressed play.
Margaret’s voice spoke again.
But this time, she was discussing Daniel’s father.
May you like
Daniel stopped breathing.
👉 The evidence against Margaret went back much further than Vale Biotech—and Daniel was about to learn that his father’s death had never been natural.
