Chapter 3 - Bluebird CabinPeter wanted to drive to Nederland immediately.
Howard stopped him.
“You’ve been awake more than twenty hours.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will if you wrap your car around a tree.”
Blair volunteered to drive.
Beverly insisted Ivy remain with her.
For the first time all morning, Ivy resisted.
“I want to go with Daddy.”
Peter knelt.
“No.”
“But I found it.”
“And that helped me more than you know.”
“Then why can’t I come?”
“Because whatever Mom left us, she left it so I could protect you.”
Ivy considered that.
Then she whispered, “Come back.”
Peter kissed her forehead.
“Always.”
At 10:17 a.m., Blair drove west.
Snow thickened as they climbed.
The address listed on the trust led them onto an unmarked road bordered by pine trees.
The cabin appeared suddenly.
Small.
Weathered.
Blue shutters.
A faded metal bird hung above the porch.
Bluebird.
Peter stepped out.
No SUV.
But fresh tire tracks crossed the snow.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside smelled of cedar and dust.
Someone had searched the place.
Cabinet doors stood open.
Cushions had been slashed.
A desk drawer lay broken on the floor.
Blair whispered, “Marlene?”
“Probably.”
Peter walked through the cabin.
On one wall hung framed photographs.
Natalie as a teenager.
Natalie with her grandfather.
Natalie standing beside the same cabin while pregnant with Ivy.
Peter had never seen any of them.
He felt as if he had entered a room inside his late wife’s life that she had never allowed him to visit.
A photograph had been removed from one frame recently.
The dust outline remained.
Blair crouched beside the fireplace.
“Peter.”
A metal box sat behind a loose brick.
It was empty.
Except for a flash drive.
Blue tape wrapped around it.
Written in Natalie’s handwriting:
P.
Peter stared.
“She expected me to find this.”
“Eventually.”
A laptop sat on the desk.
Old.
No charger.
Blair had brought one.
The flash drive contained twenty-seven files.
Contracts.
Emails.
Scanned checks.
Photographs.
The earliest material dated to 2018.
Natalie had apparently discovered that Richard Vale’s company was buying parcels around Bluebird using shell corporations.
One company was managed by Marlene Whitaker.
Another by attorney Marcus Dunne.
Natalie believed they were attempting to pressure elderly landowners into selling below market value.
Several documents contained notes in Natalie’s handwriting.
Fraud?
Check signatures.
Marlene attended meeting.
Vale threatened lawsuit.
Then they found an audio file.
Natalie’s voice filled the cabin.
“If anything happens to me, Richard will say I was paranoid. Marcus will say everything was legal. Marlene will pretend she barely knew me.”
Peter sat down.
Blair looked pale.
Natalie continued.
“Marlene Whitaker handled tenant relocation for Vale Residential. She knows exactly what they did to the McKenna family and the Ortiz family.”
Peter covered his mouth.
“I met Marlene in 2021.”
Blair nodded slowly.
“Three years after this recording.”
Natalie’s voice continued.
“I’m not saying anyone plans to hurt me. I am saying they are willing to ruin people financially. I have moved the Bluebird land into trust for Ivy. Peter does not know because Peter believes problems can be solved by sitting across a table and behaving rationally.”
Blair glanced at her brother.
Natalie had known him perfectly.
Peter almost laughed.
Almost.
Then the recording changed.
Natalie sounded frightened.
“Marlene contacted me tonight.”
Peter sat straighter.
“She offered me $380,000 for land independently appraised at $1.8 million. When I refused, she said something strange. She said, ‘People with children should think carefully about stability.’”
Peter felt cold.
The file ended.
He stared at the screen.
His phone rang.
Marlene.
He answered.
“You’re at the cabin.”
It was not a question.
“How do you know?”
“You triggered the driveway sensor.”
“You searched this place yesterday.”
“I was looking for something that belongs to me.”
“Nothing here belongs to you.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain Natalie.”
Marlene exhaled.
“I worked for Vale. Yes.”
“You threatened my wife.”
“I negotiated with your wife.”
“She recorded you.”
Another pause.
Peter walked to the window.
“What were you looking for?”
“A ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“One that could destroy people.”
“Richard Vale?”
“Among others.”
“Did you marry me because of this land?”
Marlene’s voice cracked.
“No.”
It was the first emotional answer she had given him.
Peter almost believed it.
Then Blair made a sound behind him.
She had opened another file.
A scanned payment record.
Marlene Whitaker had received $75,000 from a Vale subsidiary three weeks before her first date with Peter.
Memo:
PROJECT BLUEBIRD — FAMILY ACCESS.
Peter stared at the screen.
“Marlene.”
“What?”
“What does ‘family access’ mean?”
Silence.
Then:
“Peter, leave the cabin.”
“Answer me.”
“You are not safe there.”
“From whom?”
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Blair froze.
Peter looked toward the staircase.
They had both believed the cabin was empty.
Another creak.
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Then a man’s voice came from above.
“You should have listened to your wife, Doctor.”
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