CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Kari and Maria waited, the silence stretching between them. Diana walked back to the table and sat down heavily, as if the weight of what she was about to say had finally become too much to carry.
"I was having a relationship with Victor Sheridan," Diana said quietly. "Not just business meetings. An actual relationship. We were... involved."
Maria pulled out her notebook. "For how long?"
"About six months. It started a few months after I moved in here with Charles.
" Diana's laugh was bitter. "I know how that sounds.
The younger woman having an affair behind the wealthy older man's back.
But it wasn't like that. Charles was always working, always focused on the resort project. And when he wasn't working, he was..."
She paused, searching for words. "He was somewhere else. Emotionally, I mean. Still grieving Catherine, still living in the past. Some days I'd try to have a conversation with him and it was like talking to a wall. He'd be physically present but completely checked out."
"So you turned to Victor Sheridan," Kari said, keeping her voice neutral.
"Victor was different. He listened. He was present.
" Diana wiped her eyes. "We'd meet at his house, talk for hours.
It felt real in a way nothing with Charles ever has.
And yes, I know that makes me terrible. Charles took me in when I had nothing, gave me a place to live, and I repaid him by sleeping with one of his contractors.
But I was lonely, and Victor made me feel like I mattered. "
"Did Sterling know?" Maria asked.
"No. Charles barely notices I exist most days. He certainly didn't notice I was spending time with someone else. He's too busy mourning Catherine—or feuding with his daughter." She snorted.
"Rebecca, you mean?"
Diana nodded.
"What do they fight about?" Kari asked.
"She seems to blame him. For Catherine's death, I assume.
I don't know the specifics—Charles won't talk about it, and Rebecca certainly won't discuss it with me.
But there's this tension between them. Rebecca barely speaks to him anymore.
They can go days without exchanging more than a few words, even living in the same house. "
Diana looked troubled. "And sometimes I catch her looking at him with this... I don't know how to describe it. This hatred. Like he did something unforgivable and she can't stand to be in the same room with him."
"Catherine died in a construction site accident," Maria said. "Why would Rebecca blame Charles for that?"
"I don't know. Maybe just because it was his project, his company, his responsibility.
" Diana shrugged helplessly. "Or maybe there's more to it that I don't know about.
Rebecca keeps everything locked up inside.
She's polite to me, civil, but she never lets me in.
But God knows she needs to let someone in.
" She said the last few words under her breath.
"What makes you say that?" Kari asked.
Diana made a vague gesture with her hand. "She's just… I don't know. I worry about her. She's functional on the surface, alright. She goes to work, does her job with the foster care system, maintains the appearance of being okay. But underneath..."
Diana shook her head. "She's not okay. She's obsessed with her mother's memory.
She keeps Catherine's room exactly as it was when she died—like a shrine.
And a few months ago, she found boxes of her mother's old files in storage.
Work documents, personal papers, I'm not sure exactly what.
But she's been going through them obsessively ever since. "
"What kind of files?" Kari asked.
"I don't know. Rebecca doesn't share with me.
But whatever she found seemed to upset her even more, made the tension with Charles even worse.
" Diana paused. "Around that same time, she started volunteering somewhere.
Legal aid work, I think, or some kind of advocacy organization.
She mentioned helping with environmental causes or indigenous rights, something like that.
She'd leave for a few hours several times a week, come back looking.
.. I don't know. Purposeful. Like she'd found something meaningful to focus on. "
Kari exchanged glances with Maria. Environmental causes. Legal aid. That could easily be Hatathli's office, which might mean access to his DNA.
"Did Rebecca know the victims?" Maria asked. "Garrison, Hoffman, Sheridan?"
"She met them at business dinners here at the house.
Charles would have investor meetings or contractor dinners, and Rebecca would sit through them because Charles insisted on 'family presence.
'" Diana's expression grew thoughtful. "Now that you mention it, Rebecca asked me questions about them.
About Garrison's investment structure, about Hoffman's role in approving permits, about Victor's construction practices.
I thought she was just making conversation or maybe finally taking an interest in her father's business.
But the questions were specific, detailed. "
"When did she ask these questions?" Kari asked.
"Over the past few months. The last one was maybe two weeks ago, asking about Victor—about how well he knew Charles, whether he'd been involved in the resort project from the beginning, whether he would have known about.
.." Diana stopped. "She asked whether Victor would have known about problems with Catherine's death.
Whether he'd been the contractor on that project too. "
Kari felt her pulse quicken. "And was he?"
"Yes. Victor's company did that project. The one where Catherine died." Diana looked between them, confusion and dawning concern on her face. "Why are you asking about Rebecca? You don't think—"
"And she's with Sterling now?" Kari asked urgently.
"She and Charles went for a walk about an hour ago. Maybe longer." Diana checked her watch. "She said she wanted to talk to him privately about something important. About Catherine, I think. She specifically asked him to walk with her so they could discuss 'Mom.'"
"Call him," Kari said. "Right now."
Diana pulled out her phone. She dialed, putting it on speaker. It rang six times before going to voicemail.
"Charles, it's Diana. The detectives need to speak with you urgently. Please call me back right away."
She tried Rebecca's number next. Same result—straight to voicemail after several rings.
"Where did they go?" Maria was already standing. "Which direction?"
"Toward the back of the property. There's a trail that leads to an overlook about half a mile from here." Diana stood too, fear clear on her face now. "What's happening? Why are you asking about Rebecca?"
Kari was trying to process everything Diana had revealed.
Rebecca blaming Charles for Catherine's death.
Rebecca finding Catherine's old files and becoming obsessed with them.
Rebecca volunteering at what could be Hatathli's office—giving her access to collect his DNA.
Rebecca asking specific questions about the three victims before they were killed.
Rebecca knowing all three victims from business dinners at this house.
Rebecca specifically requesting this walk with her father to discuss Catherine.
"Diana, you said Rebecca found her mother's old files," Kari said. "Did Rebecca ever say what was in them?"
"No. But whatever it was upset her. Made her angry." Diana was pulling on shoes now, preparing to go look for Charles and Rebecca. "She wouldn't tell me specifics, but she said something once about how people needed to pay for what they'd done. About how her mother deserved justice."
"Justice for what?" Maria asked.
"I don't know! Rebecca doesn't confide in me." Diana grabbed her keys. "But you're scaring me. What do you think Rebecca is going to do?"
Kari looked at Maria, seeing the same realization in her partner's eyes.
"It's possible Rebecca has been eliminating everyone who knew about illegal practices at your boyfriend's construction projects—practices that may have led to her mother's death.
It's also possible she specifically asked her father to take this walk so she could confront him away from witnesses. "
Diana's face went white. "No. No, that's insane. Rebecca is a social worker. She helps children. She's not a killer."
"One way or another," Maria said, already moving toward the door,” we need to get to that overlook. Now."
They rushed out of the house together, Diana leading them to a utility vehicle parked near the garage. As they climbed in, Kari tried calling Sterling's number herself. Still no answer. She tried Rebecca's. Nothing.
"How well do you know Rebecca?" Kari asked as Diana drove them along a narrow paved road that curved around the property.
"I've lived with her and Charles for eight months. She's always been polite but distant with me." Diana's voice was tight with fear. "But she's never been violent. Never threatened anyone. She's quiet and sad and maybe obsessed with her mother's memory, but that doesn't make her a murderer."
"Did she ever talk about the resort project?" Maria asked. "About the petroglyphs that were destroyed, about the protests?"
"She said it was wrong. Said Charles was destroying history for profit, that he didn't care about anything except money.
" Diana's hands gripped the steering wheel.
"She went to some of the protests, actually.
Early on, before the construction started.
But then she stopped going. Said there was no point, that her father was going to do whatever he wanted regardless of who objected. "
"Did she ever mention Thomas Hatathli?" Kari asked.
"The lawyer who's been arrested? I don't think so. Why?"
"Because someone collected Hatathli's DNA and planted it at the crime scenes to frame him," Kari said. "Someone with access to his office or personal space. Someone who was volunteering at his law office, maybe."
Diana's face showed dawning horror. "You think Rebecca was volunteering at Hatathli's office? That she collected his DNA to frame him?"
"We think it's possible," Maria said.
The road ended at a small parking area near a trailhead. Diana parked and they got out, the afternoon sun beating down on them as they moved quickly along a well-maintained path through desert scrub.
"That's the overlook," Diana said, pointing to a rocky outcropping visible in the distance. "Charles likes the view. He says it helps him think about his projects, seeing everything laid out below."
As they approached, Kari could make out two figures on the overlook—a man and a woman, standing close together. Too far away to hear what they were saying, but the body language looked tense.
"Charles!" Diana called out. "Rebecca!"
Neither figure turned. They seemed entirely focused on each other, or perhaps couldn't hear over the desert wind.
Kari picked up her pace, Maria keeping stride beside her.
"Mr. Sterling!" Kari shouted. "Rebecca!"
This time both figures turned.
"Stay back," Rebecca called out. Her hand moved to her jacket.
"She has a gun," Maria said quietly, her own hand moving to her weapon but not drawing it yet.
Diana gasped. "Rebecca, what are you doing?"
"We need to talk, Rebecca," Kari called out. "Just talk. No one needs to get hurt."
"It's too late for that," Rebecca shouted back. "People are already hurt. People are dead. Because of him." She gestured at her father with the gun. "Because he cares more about money than he ever cared about human lives."
Sterling found his voice. "Rebecca, please. Whatever you think I did—"
"I don't think, Dad. I know." Rebecca's voice broke. "I found Mom's files. I found everything she documented about your projects. And I know what you did to her."
Kari was close enough now to see tears streaming down Rebecca's face, to see Sterling's expression of guilt and fear, to see how this was all going to end if they didn't stop it.
"Let's talk about it," Kari said. "Let's talk about what you found, about what your mother documented. We can help you get justice for her."
"There is no justice," Rebecca said. "Not for people like him. He'll hire lawyers, pay people off, make it all go away like he always does. The only justice is what I make myself."
She raised the gun, pointing it directly at her father's chest.