Chapter 6 - The Confession in the Dark
With the digital forensic evidence secured by my company’s IT department, my suspension was lifted with a formal, written apology from the executive VP of Human Resources. Not only was I reinstated, but the company’s legal team was so furious about their network being compromised by an external bad actor that they filed their own corporate fraud report with the cybercrimes division of the Phoenix Police Department.
Beth was no longer facing just a civil lawsuit from her sister; she was now facing a criminal corporate espionage investigation from a multi-million-dollar logistics firm.
The dominoes were falling faster than Linda Simpson could catch them.
At 11:00 PM on a Tuesday, a rental car pulled into my driveway in Monterey. I watched from my dark living room window as a figure stepped out into the fog. It was my father. He looked smaller than I remembered, his shoulders hunched against the California chill, his hands buried deep into the pockets of an old jacket.
I opened the front door before he could knock. He looked up, his eyes filled with a profound, exhausting sadness.
"Can I come in, Joanna?" he asked quietly.
I stepped aside, allowing him into the bare living room. He looked at the single mattress, the Target lamp, and the complete lack of comfort. A look of immense shame crossed his face.
"You really did build this all on your own, didn't you?" he said, his voice breaking. "Ten years of turkey sandwiches... your mother told me you were getting money from married men at your company. She told me you were a disgrace. I believed her because... because it was easier than fighting her."
"Why are you here, Dad?" I asked, keeping my distance, my back resting against the kitchen counter.
"Beth’s fiancé called off the wedding this morning," my father confessed, sinking onto the floor with his back against the wall, looking remarkably like the broken man he had always been. "The Mier family pulled the funding for the venue. They took back the ring. Beth is facing felony charges for hacking into your company. She’s a mess, Joanna. She’s blaming your mother, and your mother is blaming everyone else."
He pulled a small, digital voice recorder from his pocket and set it on the floor between us.
"I can't live in that house anymore," he whispered. "Yesterday, before I left, I set this recorder under the kitchen table. Your mother and Beth were arguing about the company passwords. It’s all on here, Joanna. Your mother admitting she came up with the plan to frame you at work so you’d lose the house. Beth screaming that she only did it because Linda promised her forty thousand dollars from your eventual settlement."
May you like
He looked up at me, tears streaming down his weathered cheeks. "Take it. Use it in your court case. I’m going to stay at a motel in town tonight, and tomorrow I’m filing for divorce. I'm sorry I didn't protect you when she had that lighter, Joanna. I will never forgive myself for that."
I looked at the small black recorder on the floor. The missing piece of the puzzle. The absolute proof of malice.
