Chapter 12
The forensics office was in a beige building behind the courthouse with no sign. A woman named Denise Park met us there. She was a forensic accountant for the DA, early forties, hair pulled back, laptop covered in stickers from county fairs.
She laid three stacks of paper on the table. "This is your company," she said. "Avalon Ridge Holdings. You own forty percent. Richardson owns forty. Minor partners hold twenty."
I nodded. I'd seen the operating agreement once at a signing dinner, thick and boring, Richard guiding my hand to the signature line.
Park opened the first stack. "Original 2021 agreement. If either of you dies, your shares pass to your estate, then to your heirs. Your baby, in this case. That's current law."
She opened the second stack. It was thinner, a draft with red markup. "This is the amendment Keller drafted August 9th. Different language. If a member dies or is declared incapacitated, their shares automatically vest to the surviving member. No estate, no heirs. And it waives community property claims. One signature makes it stick if the other is deemed to have consented in writing."
"Did I consent?" I asked.
"No," Park said. "There's no signed copy. But we found this." She pushed a third paper across — an email printout from Keller's server, obtained by warrant.
To: R. Richardson From: J. Keller Date: Aug 12 Subject: Re: consummation
Per our call, per your instruction, we will hold amendment for filing Monday 8/18. Consent letter drafted for Amelia's file. Needs her signature. Alternative: file with certification that she was provided copy and did not object within 48 hours per Section 8.2. Risky without proof of delivery.
Heller tapped the line. "They were going to fake delivery."
Park nodded. "Then there's the money. We subpoenaed the charter and the harness purchase." She put down a bank statement with a circled cash withdrawal: $5,000 on August 13, branch on Lighthouse Ave. "Richardson withdrew cash the day before he paid Coastal Air. No card trail."
Next, a receipt from REI, Marina location: Black Diamond Parachute Harness, size M, $389.00, paid cash, 08/10 — no, that was my receipt. She put Richard's copy next to it: Pacific Coast Skydiving Supply, reserve canopy purchase inquiry, 08/05, RFQ, no purchase. He'd priced one and didn't buy. I had bought mine.
"Why does that matter?" Mara asked.
"Because he looked into gear but didn't buy a harness for you," Park said. "He didn't know you had one. That makes your survival not part of his plan. And we found the insurance angle." She opened a final folder. "Key-man policy, $2 million on Amelia, beneficiary Avalon Ridge Holdings. Richardson requested increase to $4 million on August 6th. Denied pending medical exam. You never did the exam?"
"No," I said. "He said it was a formality for the company."
Heller exhaled slowly. "So motive stack: shares to him, insurance to company he controls, all vesting Monday if she dies offshore and looks like an accident."
Park closed the folders. "The DA has enough for a filing. Attempted murder, attempted first-degree, with financial motive enhancement. But they want one more thing — your testimony that you did not consent and that you heard him say the share line while falling, matching the recorder."
"I will testify," I said. My voice was quieter than I meant. I cleared my throat. "I will testify that he said, 'You really thought I didn't know? What happens to your shares if something happens to you?' while I was falling."
Park wrote it verbatim. "That's the anchor. That line plus the pilot hearing 'I'm sorry, Amelia' gives us timeline. The emergency injunction you have keeps him from filing. Now the criminal case freezes everything else."
Outside, Heller walked me to the car. She held the TRO and Park's summary together with a binder clip.
"Monday's filing is dead," she said. "He can't touch your shares. The DA will present to the judge tomorrow morning. Ellis will be there. You stay at Mara's tonight. Deputy will park outside."
I looked down at my hands. No ring. I'd left it in the evidence bag with the harness at the hospital and hadn't asked for it back.
"Do I get to stop running?" I asked.
May you like
"After tomorrow," Heller said. "After the warrant."
We drove back past the harbor. The ocean was flat and blue, the same color it had been when I was under canopy. A fishing boat was coming in, nets up. I didn't know if it was the one that pulled me out, but I watched it until we turned up Bay Street, steady and real.
