A Dead Woman’s Voice
Chapter 11 - A Dead Woman’s Voice
Detective Rosa Alvarez arrived before the uniformed officers because Natalie had used the phrase possible child confinement and financial conspiracy involving a nonprofit.
Rosa disliked weddings. Too many cameras, too many relatives, and too many people pretending champagne improved judgment.
She entered the ballroom, took in the crying child, the groom holding a recorder, the bride without a veil, and the best man edging toward a side door.
“Everybody stay where you are,” she said. “Especially the man pretending he was just looking for the restroom.”
Owen stopped.
Two officers secured the exits. Another went with Natalie to search the east wing. Rosa knelt to Mia’s height and introduced herself.
“Are you hurt?”
“My wrist hurts.”
“Who put you in the room?”
“Grant carried me. Claire told him to hide me.”
Rosa glanced toward Claire. “Do not leave.”
“I wasn’t planning to,” Claire said.
“That makes one of us.”
Rosa took the recorder and envelope using napkins as temporary evidence barriers. She photographed everything before touching it. Then she asked Daniel to play the recording again while an officer captured it on a body camera.
Emma’s voice returned to the ballroom.
This time Daniel listened not as a husband but as a rescuer reading the last message from a missing teammate.
Background noises mattered.
A clock chimed twice. A cargo door slammed. Then, beneath Emma’s words, came a faint electronic beeping pattern.
Daniel raised his hand. “Pause.”
Rosa stopped the playback.
“What?”
“The beacon test signal.”
Natalie leaned closer. “Rescue Two?”
“No. Rescue Three.”
Owen had claimed Emma recorded the message in the north hangar beside Rescue Two. But Rescue Three had been stored at a private airfield owned by Holloway Response, thirty miles away.
Emma had not merely suspected Owen. She had followed him.
Daniel played the next section. A man’s voice could be heard in the distance, too muffled to identify. Then came a metallic strike, followed by Emma saying, “Do not touch the beacon.”
The recording cut out for six seconds.
When it resumed, Emma was breathing hard.
“If the river takes us tomorrow, it won’t be weather.”
Rosa looked at Owen. “Would you like to explain why a missing pilot believed someone planned to sabotage her aircraft?”
Owen folded his arms. “I will wait for counsel.”
“You are counsel.”
“Then I am extremely well represented.”
Uncle Leo, Daniel’s uncle, spoke from table twelve. “Can we arrest him for that sentence alone?”
A nervous laugh moved through the guests. Rosa did not smile, but her eyes did.
An officer entered from the corridor. “We found the basement room. We also found zip ties, a child’s bracelet, and a second phone.”
“Whose phone?” Rosa asked.
The officer held up a clear evidence bag.
Claire stared at it.
“Owen’s,” she said.
May you like
Owen looked down at his pocket.
For the first time that evening, he had lost something important without noticing.
