HE CHOSE HIS WIFE OVER HIS MOTHER - THEN THE BABY MONITOR EXPOSED THE SECRET SHE WOULD KILL TO BURY

Daniel walked out of the station before anyone could stop him.

Emily followed.

"Daniel."

He kept going.

"Daniel!"

He turned in the parking lot. "He knew. That night. He knew while your father was still alive."

Emily's anger was quieter now. "Yes."

"And he let me worship him for the next nine years."

"We don't know what happened after the video stopped."

"What explanation fixes it?"

She had none.

Ortiz came through the doors carrying a folder.

"Maybe this doesn't fix it. But it adds context."

Thomas's bank records showed a large cash withdrawal the morning after Michael's death. The same amount appeared two days later in an account controlled by a county medical examiner's assistant.

"Dad paid him," Daniel said.

Ortiz nodded. "Looks that way."

Emily's face hardened again.

Then Ortiz opened a second page.

"But six months later, Thomas started paying a private investigator. That investigator spent three years collecting evidence on Margaret, Evan, Keller, and Site 14."

Daniel looked at her. "Why didn't he go to police?"

"I don't know."

Claire appeared at the edge of the lot.

"I might."

She had been crying.

"Dad was afraid Mom would destroy Daniel if he went public."

Daniel laughed without humor. "She already did."

Claire walked closer. "You don't understand how she used that night. Every time Dad threatened her, she said she had proof you killed Michael. She said she would hand you to police and make sure you took the whole company down with you."

"And he believed her."

"For years. Then he started doubting her story. That's why he recorded Keller."

Emily crossed her arms. "So Thomas covered up my father's death first, then tried to uncover the cover-up later."

Claire nodded miserably.

"He was not innocent."

A text hit Daniel's phone.

Unknown number.

A photo loaded.

It showed Claire leaving the station five minutes earlier.

Taken from across the street.

Then another message.

TELL YOUR SISTER TO STOP TALKING.