Chapter 6: What the Detective Already Knew
Detective Reeves had the kind of face that gave nothing away.
He was maybe forty, with close-cut hair and the unhurried manner of someone who had walked into rooms like this one before and was never surprised by what he found.
He looked around at all of us.
He didn't seem thrown by the number of people.
"I apologize for the interruption," he said, which was a polite thing to say and clearly not something he meant.
"Ms.
Marsh-Colton, is there somewhere we could speak privately?"
"Whatever you need to say," Lauren said, "you can say in front of my husband."
Reeves glanced at Daniel.
Daniel nodded once.
"All right." Reeves set his folder on the table — not opening it yet, just setting it there.
"We've been looking into a series of identity-related complaints filed over the past several months.
Your name has come up in connection with one of those complaints."
"That's impossible," Lauren said.
"The complaint was filed by a woman named Carol Simmons," Reeves said.
"She was a former employee of yours.
She reported fraudulent accounts opened in her name beginning approximately twenty-two months ago."
Emma's mom looked up sharply.
"Carol Simmons," she said.
"You know her?" Reeves asked.
"She worked here before me," Emma's mom said.
"Lauren told me she left because she was unreliable."
Reeves looked at Lauren.
"Ms.
Simmons did not leave voluntarily.
She was terminated after she raised concerns about financial irregularities." He paused.
"She filed a police report at the time.
It was logged but not immediately investigated due to insufficient documentation." Another pause.
"She has since provided additional documentation."
"This is harassment," Lauren said.
"I want Richard here before this goes any further."
"You're welcome to call your attorney," Reeves said.
"That's absolutely your right." He didn't move toward the door.
He didn't suggest he would wait outside.
Daniel reached into his pocket and placed the USB drive on the table in front of the detective.
Lauren's head turned toward him so fast it looked like it hurt.
"Daniel—"
"A former employee brought this today," Daniel said.
"She says it contains emails.
I haven't looked at it yet." He kept his eyes on Reeves.
"I think you should have it."
"Daniel, that is our private—"
"It's not private if it contains evidence of fraud," Daniel said.
He still didn't look at his wife.
"I'm not protecting this."
Reeves picked up the USB drive and placed it in his jacket pocket.
He looked at Diane.
"You're the former employee?"
"Yes," Diane said.
"I'll need your contact information before you leave."
"Of course."
Lauren took two steps toward her husband.
"You just handed our private correspondence to a police detective without asking me.
Without a warrant.
Without—"
"He can have it voluntarily," Reeves said, mildly.
"Which he just did."
Lauren stopped.
She looked at her husband for a long moment.
Then she looked at Emma's mom.
Then at Emma.
Emma was watching her with those clear, steady eyes that children sometimes have — the eyes that see everything and judge nothing out loud.
"She's a child," Lauren said.
Her voice had gone strange.
Almost soft.
"I never would have actually—"
"Don't," Emma's mom said.
"Please don't finish that sentence."
Lauren closed her mouth.
Reeves opened his folder.
He placed two photographs on the table.
One was a document — a bank form, it looked like.
The other was a still image from what appeared to be security camera footage.
A woman standing at a bank counter.
"Ms.
Marsh-Colton," Reeves said, "do you recognize the woman in this photograph?"
Lauren looked at it.
Something moved behind her eyes.
"That's Pauline," Daniel said quietly.
"Pauline Marsh," Reeves confirmed.
"Your cousin." He looked at Lauren.
"We've been trying to reach her for three days.
Her phone goes to voicemail.
Her apartment is empty."
The color left Lauren's face.
"She didn't," Lauren said.
It came out barely above a whisper.
"Didn't what?" Reeves asked.
Lauren sat down slowly.
She looked like a person who had just discovered that the ground she'd been standing on had been hollow the entire time.
"I need Richard," she said.
"I need him now."
"Of course," Reeves said.
He stepped back slightly to give her room.
But he didn't leave.
And he didn't close the folder.
Emma's mom stood up.
She took Emma's hand.
She looked at Reeves.
"My daughter made a recording this morning," she said.
"Lauren threatening her.
I have a copy on my phone.
Do you want it?"
"Yes," Reeves said.
"I do."
Emma looked up at her mother.
Her mother looked down at her.
"You did good," her mother said.
"You did so good, baby."
Emma leaned into her side.
And across the table, Lauren sat with her hands folded in front of her and her attorney still not there, and the folder still open, and the photographs still on the table, and the USB drive already in the detective's pocket.
May you like
She had come into this room certain she was the most powerful person in it.
She was only now beginning to understand that she had been wrong about that for a very long time.
