Chapter 16 - CASSIDY'S SECRET|
The woman's voice was unmistakable once I heard it.
Cassidy.
She had not been part of the conversation before the fire, but she appeared in a recording made three days afterward.
"Preston, you said the problem was handled."
"It is."
"Then why is Martin still asking about the wife?"
"Because he doesn't trust anyone."
Cassidy sighed.
"I don't want to be involved in this."
"You're already involved."
A pause followed.
Then she asked, "What if Vivian remembers?"
Preston answered, "She won't."
The recording ended.
I sat in Rebecca's office, unable to understand why Cassidy had been involved so early.
She had been Preston's communications director. At the time of the fire, she was barely out of college.
"Was she there that night?" I asked.
"We don't know," Rebecca said. "But she knew enough afterward to ask about you."
Gideon joined us by video call.
He had uncovered another connection. Cassidy's father had been a consultant for Hale Meridian. He had been investigated for financial misconduct before dying in an apparent accident several years earlier.
Cassidy had inherited his unpaid debts.
Preston had hired her and paid them off.
"That's how he gained her loyalty," Gideon said.
"Or how he gained control over her," Rebecca added.
We needed to speak with Cassidy.
She agreed to meet at a private restaurant, but only after Rebecca promised she would not be recorded without her consent.
When Cassidy arrived, she looked exhausted. Her makeup was flawless, but her hands trembled.
"I know why you're here," she said.
"Then tell us what you know," I replied.
She looked at my back.
For once, she didn't smile.
"I didn't know about the fire beforehand."
"But you knew about the recording."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
She looked down at her hands.
"Preston told me you were unstable. He said the accident had affected your memory and that you were obsessed with blaming him."
"Did you believe him?"
"At first."
"And later?"
She swallowed.
"Later, I realized he was lying."
Cassidy explained that she had discovered a set of financial records while working in Preston's office. She found payments to Martin Kessler and an account linked to Richard Cole.
She had confronted Preston.
He told her that if she wanted to keep her job and protect her father’s remaining assets, she needed to stop asking questions.
"Then why are you carrying his child?" I asked.
Her eyes filled.
"Because I thought he loved me."
I felt no sympathy, but I understood the trap.
"Did he tell you he would divorce me?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"After the equity transfer."
I looked at her.
"You knew he was using our marriage to secure the deal."
She nodded.
"Then why did you help him humiliate me?"
Her face crumpled.
"I thought if you disappeared from his life, everything would finally be simple."
"Simple for whom?"
She had no answer.
Then she reached into her handbag and placed a small flash drive on the table.
"I copied Preston's private emails. There are messages between him, Martin, and Richard."
Rebecca asked whether the files were complete.
"Most of them."
"Why give them to us now?"
Cassidy looked at me.
"Because Preston told me yesterday that if the investigation reached the fire, he would say I arranged the whole thing."
May you like
She pushed the flash drive toward Rebecca.
"And because I found an email where he says what he planned to do if you ever remembered."
