Chapter 10 - What Kelly Knew.
Sophia stared across the metal table at Kelly.
"Say that again."
Kelly's face was pale beneath the harsh interview-room lights.
"Daniel told me you wouldn't make it to California."
Rachel stopped writing.
"Exact words?"
Kelly nodded slowly.
"He said, 'By the time we land, Sophia won't be our problem anymore.'"
Sophia's heartbeat became painfully loud.
"When did he say that?"
"Two nights ago."
"And you still came to the airport?"
Kelly flinched at the disgust in Sophia's voice.
"I thought he meant the transfer would be complete."
Sophia leaned forward.
"You saw fifty million dollars of life insurance and still thought this was about a bank transfer?"
Kelly's eyes filled.
"No."
The answer was almost a whisper.
"That's why I sent you the certificate."
Rachel studied her.
"Why not go to the police?"
Kelly looked toward the closed door.
"Because Daniel has spent a year teaching me what happens when I disobey him."
Sophia said nothing.
Kelly rolled up the sleeve of her white jacket.
A fading bruise circled her wrist.
It matched the place Daniel had grabbed in the airport video.
"He never hit my face."
Kelly spoke quickly, almost defensively.
"He said bruises there would be harder to explain."
Sophia felt her anger split in two.
One half still hated Kelly for knowing about the wedding.
The other half recognized something she had failed to see.
Daniel had built different lies for different women.
He told Sophia that Kelly was merely an ambitious employee.
He told Kelly that Sophia was a willing financial partner.
He kept each woman angry at the other so neither would compare stories.
Rachel asked Kelly about the Bahamas flight.
Kelly wiped her eyes.
"Daniel changed it last night."
"Why Nassau?"
"He said the California meeting was canceled."
Sophia laughed bitterly.
"Another lie."
Kelly nodded.
"He had a charter connection arranged from Nassau."
Rachel's pen stopped.
"To where?"
"I don't know."
Sophia remembered the warning.
Don't let him leave America.
The message had not been dramatic.
It had been literal.
Daniel planned to move the money and vanish through a route that made recovery harder.
Rachel asked whether Kelly had copies of the transfer documents.
"I photographed everything."
She unlocked her phone.
"The papers in my suitcase were originals."
Sophia watched her open a hidden album.
There were more than forty images.
Corporate documents.
Account numbers.
A scanned copy of Sophia's driver's license.
A photograph of her signature.
Then a handwritten note appeared.
Rachel zoomed in.
It contained a schedule.
8:00 breakfast.
9:30 security.
10:15 transfer one.
10:30 transfer two.
11:05 boarding.
At the bottom, one line had been underlined twice.
S medication in handbag.
Sophia's skin prickled.
"What medication?"
Kelly shook her head.
"I don't know."
Sophia opened her handbag and emptied it onto the table.
Wallet.
Phone.
Lipstick.
Keys.
A small bottle of antacid.
Then Rachel found a second bottle inside a side pocket.
It was not Sophia's.
There was no pharmacy label.
Inside were six pale capsules.
Sophia stopped moving.
Kelly covered her mouth.
Rachel immediately told everyone not to touch them further.
The officer called for evidence handling and medical assessment.
Sophia looked at her handbag as if it belonged to a stranger.
Daniel had carried it from the hotel room to the car that morning while Sophia finished dressing.
He had been alone with it for five minutes.
Sophia remembered the breakfast coffee.
Daniel had poured it for her.
She had taken only two sips because it tasted bitter.
May you like
A wave of nausea rolled through her.
For the first time that morning, she did not have to pretend.
