Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO FELL
Daniel Kerr had been thirty-six when he died.
A forensic accountant.
Meticulous.
Cautious.
And according to everyone who knew him, almost obsessively careful around heights.
That made the balcony story strange.
Maya reopened the photographs from five years earlier.
The vacation property overlooked cliffs near Santa Barbara.
Daniel had supposedly stumbled against a railing and fallen almost thirty feet onto stone below.
His blood alcohol level had been high.
But photographs showed something investigators had ignored.
Two glasses sat in the bedroom.
One contained Daniel’s fingerprints.
The other had been wiped clean.
The railing had also been cleaned.
Natalie claimed housekeeping staff had done it.
Housekeeping records showed nobody entered until after police arrived.
Marcus Reed joined Ryan at the Malibu house the next morning.
He dropped a folder onto the dining table.
“I found Daniel’s sister.”
“Where?”
“Portland.”
“What did she say?”
“She’s been waiting five years for someone to ask the right questions.”
Claire Kerr arrived that afternoon.
She had Daniel’s eyes.
That was Ryan’s first thought.
She walked directly toward Natalie’s wedding photograph hanging on the wall.
Then she turned away.
“She always hated having her picture taken.”
Ryan frowned.
“Natalie?”
Claire nodded.
“Unless she controlled the camera.”
Claire sat.
“Daniel wanted to divorce her.”
Ryan looked at Marcus.
“She said they were happy.”
“They weren’t.”
Claire opened her bag.
Inside was an old phone.
“Daniel gave me this two weeks before he died.”
“Why?”
“He told me if anything happened, keep it.”
Ryan stared.
“You never gave it to police?”
“I did.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“They said nothing useful was on it.”
Marcus plugged the phone into a forensic reader.
Most files had been erased.
One remained damaged.
An audio recording.
They played it.
Static.
Wind.
Daniel’s voice.
Natalie, stop.
Then another voice.
Male.
We can fix this.
Ryan stiffened.
Evan.
The recording cracked.
Natalie spoke.
You should have minded your own business.
Daniel answered.
Eighteen million dollars isn’t my business?
Ryan looked at Marcus.
“What eighteen million?”
The audio continued.
Daniel sounded closer.
Ryan deserves to know.
Then Evan.
Leave my brother out of this.
Natalie laughed.
Your brother owns half the company.
The recording abruptly stopped.
Ryan felt cold.
This was not a marriage argument.
It involved Collins Development.
His company.
Marcus began searching internal financial records.
Two hours later, he found something.
Between six and four years earlier, eighteen-point-four million dollars had moved through consulting companies tied to Collins Development.
Ryan had never approved the payments.
The digital authorizations carried his signature.
They were forged.
Evan had been executive vice president at the time.
Daniel had discovered the fraud.
And Natalie had known about it.
Ryan looked at Claire.
“Why would Daniel care about my company?”
Claire stared at him.
“Because someone hired him to investigate it.”
“Who?”
Claire hesitated.
Then removed an envelope from her bag.
“Your wife.”
Ryan frowned.
“Natalie?”
Claire shook her head.
“Emily.”
The room went silent.
Emily Collins.
Ryan’s first wife.
Ava’s mother.
Dead for two years.
Ryan stared at Claire.
“Emily knew Daniel?”
Claire nodded.
“They were working together.”
Ryan’s world shifted.
Before he could ask another question, Marcus’s computer chimed.
He stared at the screen.
“What?”
Marcus looked at Ryan.
“One of the shell companies received another payment after Daniel died.”
“How much?”
“Three million.”
“To whom?”
Marcus turned the laptop.
May you like
The recipient’s name appeared.
NATALIE KERR.
