Chapter 12 - THE SECOND RECORDER
Detective Pike told me not to respond.
The photograph had been sent from an internet-based number.
The bedroom in the image was definitely mine.
The pendant on the pillow looked nearly identical to the one police had taken.
But not exactly.
Mine had a tiny scratch near the clasp where I once dropped it on the driveway.
The one in the photograph did not.
Raymond had bought another recorder.
That should have frightened me.
Instead, it explained things.
Why he often paused before arguments.
Why he repeated questions.
Why he sometimes pushed until I shouted the exact sentence he seemed to want.
He had not only been provoking me.
He had been collecting my reactions.
Police found the second device beneath a loose floorboard in my old bedroom after expanding the search warrant.
There were recordings on it.
Hundreds.
Most were useless.
Me studying.
Me calling friends.
Me crying quietly after Raymond went downstairs.
Then there were the edited files.
Short clips with names like:
NORA THREAT 1.
NORA BREAKDOWN 4.
NORA ADMITS HATRED.
In one clip, I shouted, “I wish you were dead.”
The file ended there.
The full recording showed Raymond had just told me my mother would choose him over me if I forced her to pick.
In another clip, I screamed, “Don’t touch me!”
The edited version removed the first two words.
It became:
Touch me.
Rebecca listened to three files and left the room.
I turned them off.
“Did he plan to use these in the guardianship case?” I asked Pike.
“That appears likely.”
“Would they have worked?”
“Not automatically.”
“But they could’ve caused trouble.”
“Yes.”
That was all Raymond needed.
Delay.
Confusion.
Enough doubt to keep control while money disappeared elsewhere.
The search of his computers uncovered bookkeeping spreadsheets tied to Midwest Capital.
Forensic accountants began tracing transfers.
Some went to business debts.
Some to personal credit cards.
A down payment on a boat he later sold.
Equipment.
A brokerage account.
A condo investment in Cincinnati.
Not two million dollars.
Not a secret island.
Just ordinary things bought with money that belonged to somebody else.
That made it uglier.
My childhood had been traded for trucks, interest payments, and a failing contractor’s need to feel richer than he was.
Raymond’s attorney contacted Melissa regarding the civil trust claims.
He offered to discuss restitution.
Melissa explained something important.
“Returning money does not erase criminal allegations.”
“I know.”
“And his lawyer knows that.”
“Then why offer?”
“Because the civil side still matters.”
“How much can we get back?”
“We don’t know.”
“Half?”
“I don’t know.”
“A hundred thousand?”
“Nora.”
“I know. You don’t know.”
She smiled faintly.
“You’re learning.”
“I hate learning.”
“That part continues.”
My mother moved out of the house.
Raymond’s attorney claimed she had taken property belonging to him.
Her attorney told her to stop speaking directly to anyone except through counsel.
She complied.
For once.
I did not visit her.
On the third week after my birthday, Carolyn delivered a handwritten note from her.
I did not open it.
I put it in Rebecca’s desk drawer.
That same afternoon, Detective Pike called.
“We found something on Raymond’s laptop.”
“What?”
“A draft affidavit.”
“For guardianship?”
“Yes.”
“Signed?”
“Not by your mother.”
“Then by who?”
“Raymond.”
“What does it say?”
Pike paused.
“He states that your mother is emotionally dependent on you and cannot make objective decisions about your care.”
I almost laughed.
“He was planning to attack her credibility too.”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“He claims he was the stable parent in the household.”
My ribs ached with the memory.
“Of course he does.”
“There’s an attachment.”
“What attachment?”
“An audio transcript.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“From his recorder?”
“We think so.”
“What’s on it?”
“Your mother talking to him.”
“About me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The night you were taken to the hospital.”
I stopped.
“What does she say?”
“We’re still authenticating the full file.”
“Pike.”
“There’s a section after you were unconscious.”
I could hear papers moving on his desk.
Then he said, “Nora, your mother was in the bathroom before they took you to the hospital.”
“I know.”
“No.”
May you like
His voice softened.
“She was there before you hit the floor.”
