Chapter 3 - The case I buried
“I didn't bury it willingly.”
Audrey stared at me.
“But you buried it.”
“Yes.”
The word tasted poisonous.
Seventeen years earlier, Arthur Thorne wasn't wealthy.
He was a contractor desperate for government work.
Our investigation uncovered bribes connected to road projects.
Then our confidential informant disappeared.
Evidence vanished.
My supervisor ordered the investigation suspended.
Three days later, my wife—Audrey’s mother, Rebecca—received a photograph.
Audrey leaving elementary school.
Eight years old.
Someone had drawn a red circle around her face.
I resigned from the investigation.
Months later, I left the Attorney General’s Office entirely.
I told Audrey I'd grown tired of government work.
The truth?
I chose my daughter.
She listened silently.
Then:
“Did Mom know?”
“Yes.”
“And you never thought to tell me before I married Arthur Thorne’s son?”
That accusation landed exactly where it should.
“I didn't know Julian was connected to that Arthur until your engagement dinner.”
Audrey stared at me.
“You knew for three years?”
“I investigated Julian quietly. I found nothing.”
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
No defense.
No excuse.
Then Audrey said something worse.
“Mom investigated them too.”
Impossible.
Rebecca was a forensic accountant.
After I left government, she occasionally helped law firms with financial reviews.
Audrey had found files on her old laptop after her death.
“That's where I learned about the Thornes.”
Rebecca had continued my investigation without telling me.
For years.
Audrey opened a cloud folder.
Most files were corrupted.
One wasn't.
A photograph.
Rebecca standing beside Arthur Thorne.
Date:
Three weeks before her death.
My wife had supposedly collapsed from a cerebral aneurysm.
No warning.
No suspicious circumstances.
I had accepted it because the autopsy confirmed it.
Audrey touched my hand.
“Dad…”
“No.”
“You need to hear this.”
She played an audio file Rebecca recorded the night before she died.
Static.
Traffic.
Then Rebecca's voice:
“Arthur knows Daniel stopped the investigation because of Audrey.”
Another voice answered.
Male.
Unclear.
Rebecca continued:
“But Daniel still doesn't know who protected Arthur.”
The recording ended.
I replayed it.
Again.
Again.
Then I noticed the timestamp.
Rebecca hadn't recorded it from home.
GPS metadata placed her inside the Attorney General’s Office.
At 11:43 p.m.
May you like
Using my old security credentials.
Credentials that had supposedly been deactivated six years earlier.
