Chapter 8
Mara's apartment was above a laundromat on Main. The windows rattled when the dryers ran, and the kitchen smelled like coffee and lavender cleaner. She didn't ask about the bruise on my shoulder from the harness strap. She just handed me an ice pack and a blanket.
"I was supposed to explain it as an accident," I told her that night, sitting on her couch with my feet tucked under me. "That's what his lawyer offered. Private medical matter. No police."
Mara sat across from me, her hands around a mug. "Is that what you want?"
"No," I said. "I want him to say it again where someone else can hear it."
Mara nodded like that was reasonable. "Then you stay here as long as you need."
I slept with my phone on the pillow next to me. At 6:13 a.m. it buzzed. Richard.
I let it go to voicemail. His voice came through, strained and soft.
"Amelia, please pick up. Keller said you walked out. I'm at the house. I just want to make sure you're safe. We can talk without lawyers. Just us. For the baby."
I deleted it without saving it. Heller had told me not to engage alone.
By nine, I was in Heller's office with Marris and Cho. Heller played back the wire from yesterday. Keller's voice was clear: that amendment was never executed... you retain your full interest... return any recordings.
"He offered consideration for suppression of evidence," Heller said. "That's not a settlement. That's obstruction."
Marris leaned forward. "We want to try a controlled call. You call Richard back from here. We record. You don't accuse. You let him talk. You ask one thing: why did he change the flight path."
Heller looked at me. "Only if you want to. You can say no."
I thought about the helicopter, the wind, his hand on my back before the push. The way he'd said my name like an apology he'd rehearsed.
"I want to," I said.
Cho set up the recorder on speaker. Heller dialed and handed me the phone. It rang three times.
"Amelia," Richard said. He sounded like he'd been crying. "Thank God."
"Hi," I said. My voice was flat. I stared at the foam on the ceiling tiles.
"Where are you? I'm at home, I made soup, I didn't know where you went after the hospital—"
"I'm safe," I said. I paused. I could hear him breathing. "Why did you tell the pilot to go farther offshore?"
Silence. Then a sharp inhale.
"Who told you that? That's not— Amelia, the charter company decides the route, not me. You were so scared, you must be misremembering. The wind was bad that day."
"You paid cash to change it last minute," I said. Quiet. I didn't raise my voice.
"That's not true," he said quickly. "I used my card. I always use my card. You know that. Ask the pilot. You're confused from the trauma. The doctor said—"
"The harness receipt is dated nine days before," I said. "I kept it."
Another silence, longer this time. When he spoke again, his tone had cooled.
"Amelia, you're spiraling. You bought a harness? You're pregnant. Why would you buy a harness unless— Are you saying you planned this? Do you hear how that sounds to police?"
Heller's hand flattened on the table. Stay steady, she mouthed.
I swallowed. "You said you were sorry before I fell."
"I said I was sorry you were scared," he said. "You're twisting it. You've been under stress with the shares, with the baby. I told Keller we should get you help."
There it was. The gaslight, smooth and practiced, turning my proof into my instability.
I looked at Marris. She nodded once.
"I have the recording from the helicopter," I said.
He went very still. I could hear a clock ticking on his end.
"What recording?"
"The one in my coat pocket," I said. "It heard everything."
Richard's voice dropped. No more softness.
"You need to bring that to me, Amelia. Not to them. If you give that to police, you will lose everything. They will say you entrapped me. Keller will say you manufactured motive."
"Or the company will hear what happens to my shares if something happens to me," I said. "Your words."
For two seconds there was only breathing.
"Bring it home," he said. "We fix this at home."
I ended the call. My hand was shaking now, after, not during.
Cho stopped the recorder and ejected the card. "He just changed his story twice and admitted knowledge of shares," she said. "And threatened you."
Heller slipped the card into an envelope and sealed it. She signed across the seal and handed me a pen.
"Sign here," she said. "You just made that recording admissible six ways. He wants it because he knows it buries him."
Marris bagged the office recorder too. "Two copies, two custodians, same as before. He can't gaslight a tape."
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Mara texted me while they logged it: porch light still on.
I texted back: on my way.
