Chapter 10 - The Pink Microphone.
Vanessa tore through ribbons and tissue paper while Olivia watched from Ellen's arms.
The pink karaoke microphone had been on the gift table ten minutes earlier.
Now only its charger remained.
Daniel smiled at the empty box.
"Children imagine things when adults frighten them."
Olivia shook her head.
"I pressed record when you talked to Mr. Carl."
"You said Mommy would lose me if Aunt Jennifer didn't sign."
Sloan ordered every bag, cart, and trash bin searched.
Jennifer studied the guests still trapped inside the ballroom.
One person was missing.
Martin Kessler, the company's general counsel, had disappeared from his video screen.
The screen's camera now showed an empty office chair.
"Kessler was in the hotel," Jennifer said.
Robert frowned.
"He joined remotely from headquarters."
Jennifer pointed at the reflection behind his chair.
Pink balloons floated in the dark glass.
Kessler had staged the call from a suite above the ballroom.
The discovery explained how he had delivered signed board resolutions seconds after Daniel requested them.
He had been close enough to carry documents through the service elevator and change pages inside the folder during the confusion.
For twelve years, the Hales had trusted Kessler with every contract that protected the company.
Daniel had turned the gatekeeper into the thief.
Robert called Kessler's private number, but it rang once before disconnecting.
Jennifer realized he was not escaping with the microphone alone.
He was carrying whatever remained of the original Blue Finch ownership file.
Sloan sent officers upstairs.
Jennifer's phone rang from a blocked number.
Kessler's voice came through in a whisper.
"The microphone is in my room."
"Daniel promised to protect my family if I helped him."
"Where are you now?"
"Leaving before he decides I know too much."
A car engine roared through the phone.
Then came the sound of metal striking concrete.
The call went dead.
Sloan ran toward the garage with Jennifer behind her.
They reached the ramp as a black SUV smashed through the exit barrier.
Kessler crouched in the passenger seat.
Carl's younger brother drove.
The SUV swerved toward Jennifer.
Sloan pulled her behind a pillar as the side mirror exploded against the concrete.
The vehicle vanished up the ramp.
Something pink lay spinning on the pavement.
Jennifer picked up the microphone.
Its casing was cracked, but the small display still glowed.
One audio file remained.
Daniel's voice emerged through the damaged speaker.
"When the loan defaults, Kessler signs the hotels to Blue Finch."
Carl asked who would control the company after Ellen was arrested.
Daniel's answer was clear.
"Vanessa will hold it for Olivia until I divorce Jennifer."
Jennifer looked up.
Vanessa stood at the top of the ramp.
She had followed them and heard every word.
"He said Blue Finch belonged to your mother," Jennifer said.
"He told each of us a different lie."
Vanessa's face hardened.
"Then let me help you destroy him."
Before Jennifer could answer, the microphone display blinked.
A second file appeared, time-stamped three years earlier.
Vanessa stared at the date.
"That was the afternoon Ellen came to my apartment."
"Olivia was playing singer in the hallway while we argued in the kitchen."
Jennifer pressed the cracked play button before either woman could protect themselves with another silence.
The voice on that recording did not belong to Daniel.
May you like
It belonged to Ellen.
"If Jennifer ever learns the truth about Olivia," she said, "our family will never survive it."
