Patricia was taken into custody before sunset.
She did not resist.
She walked into the station carrying a cardboard box.
Inside were bank statements, photographs, letters, and a small black notebook.
The detective placed everything on a table.
Patricia sat across from us.
She looked exhausted.
Not defeated.
Exhausted.
Brian sat opposite her.
I remained beside Daniel.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Finally, Brian asked, “Why didn't you tell me?”
Patricia looked at him.
“Because I thought I was protecting you.”
“You destroyed my marriage.”
Her eyes filled.
“I know.”
“You framed Angela.”
“I know.”
“You helped someone take Ethan.”
“I never touched that child.”
“But you knew where he was.”
Patricia lowered her head.
“Yes.”
Brian's voice became quieter.
“How long?”
“Five months.”
Melissa began crying.
Harold put an arm around her.
Patricia looked toward them.
“I was trying to get him back.”
Harold shook his head.
“You had five months.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was my daughter.”
Patricia closed her eyes.
The detective opened the black notebook.
“Let's talk about Derek.”
Patricia nodded.
“He started threatening your father before he died.”
Brian looked at her.
“What did he want?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Three hundred thousand.”
Daniel interrupted.
“That's the amount in the private account.”
Patricia nodded.
“Your father had recovered most of it.”
Brian stared.
“So Derek wanted the money back.”
“Yes.”
“And when Dad died?”
“He came after me.”
Patricia's voice trembled.
“He said if I didn't produce the money, he'd expose everything.”
“What everything?”
Patricia looked toward the detective.
“Your father's company was being used to move money.”
“By Derek?”
“By several people.”
The detective opened another folder.
“Names?”
Patricia nodded.
“Derek wasn't working alone.”
She named three people.
One had been the company's accountant.
Another had been a business partner.
The third was Brian's father's attorney.
Mr. Hale.
Brian stared.
“The man in the photograph.”
“Yes.”
The detective wrote the name down.
“Why was Angela targeted?”
Patricia looked at me.
“Because your father changed the beneficiary.”
“I know.”
“He told me.”
“When?”
“Two weeks before he died.”
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
Patricia's face tightened.
“Because Hale found out.”
Daniel looked up.
“Hale knew?”
“Yes.”
“And Derek?”
“Yes.”
“So they knew Angela would inherit the account.”
Patricia nodded.
“And they needed the money before the transfer could be completed.”
I understood.
The sixty-one thousand dollars was not the goal.
It was the first payment.
A demonstration that the account could be accessed.
A way to make it look as though I had taken the money myself.
Patricia continued.
“They wanted you accused of theft.”
“Why?”
“Because if the police believed you stole the money, your accounts could be frozen.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“And the divorce?”
Patricia looked at Brian.
“They wanted the marriage to end before the inheritance issue became public.”
Brian's face hardened.
“So you helped them destroy us.”
“I thought I could control it.”
“You couldn't.”
“No.”
The detective opened another document.
“Then explain this.”
He placed a copy of a wire transfer on the table.
The transfer had been made from an account controlled by Patricia.
The recipient was Derek Cole.
Amount: $61,000.
Patricia looked at it.
“Yes.”
Brian stared.
“You told me the money was missing.”
“It was.”
“You paid him.”
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
Patricia looked at her son.
“You don't know what he threatened.”
Brian's voice broke.
“He threatened Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“But Ethan wasn't yours.”
“No.”
“Then why did you care?”
Patricia looked toward Melissa.
“Because I loved my niece.”
Melissa shook her head.
“You used me.”
Patricia began crying.
“I know.”
The detective turned another page.
“What happened after the first payment?”
Patricia explained.
Derek demanded more.
She could not provide it.
So he ordered her to create another story.
The forged withdrawals.
The fake identification.
The ring.
The surveillance.
The accusations.
Everything had been designed to make me look guilty.
But Patricia had underestimated one thing.
The bank teller remembered Melissa.
That small detail had broken the entire scheme.
Daniel looked at me.
“Mrs. Wilkes saved you.”
I nodded.
The detective's phone rang.
He answered.
Then his expression changed.
“Where?”
He listened.
“Send units.”
He hung up.
“Derek's car was found.”
Brian stood.
“Where?”
“Outside Mr. Hale's office.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Is Hale there?”
“He was seen leaving twenty minutes ago.”
Brian looked at me.
“Where is he going?”
The detective shook his head.
“We don't know.”
Then another officer entered.
“We found Hale's vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Near the airport.”
Brian's face tightened.
“He's leaving.”
The detective grabbed his coat.
“Maybe.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Stay here.”
I nodded.
The detective left with several officers.
Patricia remained seated.
Brian looked at her.
“Did Dad know you were involved?”
Patricia shook her head.
“He knew I was afraid.”
“Did he know Derek was threatening you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't he protect you?”
Patricia looked toward me.
“Because he trusted you.”
Brian looked confused.
“What does that mean?”
Patricia answered slowly.
“Your father knew I had made mistakes.”
She wiped her eyes.
“He knew I was weak.”
Brian's jaw tightened.
“But he believed Angela would eventually uncover the truth.”
I looked down.
For the first time, I understood why his father had chosen me.
Not because I was special.
Because I had once done something simple.
I had refused to sign paperwork I didn't understand.
That had been enough for him to notice.
The detective returned nearly an hour later.
He looked grim.
“We missed Hale.”
Brian asked, “What about Derek?”
“Found.”
My heart stopped.
“Where?”
“In his vehicle.”
The detective paused.
“He's dead.”
Nobody moved.
Brian stared at him.
“What happened?”
“Preliminary evidence suggests suicide.”
Daniel frowned.
“Do you believe that?”
The detective didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
“Did you find Hale?”
“No.”
“What about Patricia?”
“She stays in custody.”
Brian looked at his mother.
Then at me.
The detective placed a small evidence bag on the table.
Inside was a flash drive.
“We found this in Derek's vehicle.”
Daniel looked at it.
“What is it?”
“Financial records.”
The detective handed it to him.
“There's enough here to trace the missing money.”
Daniel's expression changed as he reviewed the label.
“What?”
The detective looked at me.
“The sixty-one thousand wasn't transferred to Derek.”
I stared at him.
“Then where did it go?”
He turned the evidence bag over.
“There was another account.”
Brian stepped closer.
“Whose?”
The detective looked at the file.
“An account opened under Angela Brooks.”
My heart stopped.
“I never opened an account.”
“We know.”
“Then who did?”
The detective's answer came quietly.
“That's what the records should tell us.”
Daniel looked at the flash drive.
Then at me.
“This may finally show us who was behind the entire scheme.”
I stared at the tiny device.
For six months, I had been trying to prove I hadn't stolen sixty-one thousand dollars.
Now we had evidence that someone had stolen it in my name.
But if that account had been opened under my identity, then whoever created it had access to far more than my signature.
They had access to my personal information.
My documents.
My banking history.
My identity.
And as the detective prepared to examine the files, one final message appeared on the screen.
*Transfer completed. Angela never knew.**
Brian looked at me.
I looked at Daniel.
And none of us noticed Patricia quietly lowering her head.
Because she already knew whose name would appear next.
Click here to continue reading: PART 9: The Account Opened in My Name Had Been Receiving Money for Years, and Its First Deposit Changed the Entire Investigation
The Accusation That Turned Nine Years of Marriage Into a Question I Could Not Answer
Part 8 of 20
