Chapter 15 - Bunny’s Torn Ear
Maria repaired Bunny’s torn ear.
The court allowed the handoff in Dr. Morris’s office.
Emma watched Maria sew.
“You’ll make it ugly.”
Maria pretended offense.
“I have repaired this rabbit since before you could say my name.”
Emma sniffed.
“You put the wrong pink thread once.”
“You were four.”
“I remember.”
Daniel watched through the observation window.
There was no manipulation.
No coaching.
Only history.
The evaluator eventually recommended restoring Maria’s regular contact, noting that cutting off a stable caregiver would likely harm Emma more than help her.
Celeste objected.
The judge overruled her.
A small reversal.
Emma ran into Maria’s arms in the courthouse hallway.
Daniel turned away to give them privacy.
Maya stood beside him.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“You look like you’re crying.”
“I have allergies.”
“In February?”
“Courtroom dust.”
“Of course.”
Then Grant called.
The serial-numbered external drive had resurfaced.
Not physically.
Digitally.
A laptop associated with Julian had mounted it two nights earlier at a private executive club in Denver.
Investigators obtained security footage.
Julian entered.
Forty minutes later, Marcus Bell from Crestline arrived.
Then a third person.
Celeste.
Daniel stared at the image.
“She met them after cooperating?”
Maya checked the date.
“The meeting happened before her proffer.”
“What did they discuss?”
“No audio.”
Celeste’s lawyer was contacted.
Her answer came through counsel.
She claimed she had gone to recover the archive from Julian.
“Did she?”
“No.”
“Then why didn’t she tell prosecutors?”
“She says she was afraid they would cancel her cooperation meeting.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
Even while trying to tell the truth, Celeste managed it.
Investigators questioned her again.
This time her cooperation nearly collapsed.
The prosecutor warned that withholding a material meeting could destroy any benefit she expected.
Celeste finally gave them the missing piece.
Julian had told her the drive would be at Raven Peak during the final board vote.
Daniel frowned when Maya relayed it.
“What final board vote?”
Hart Alpine had no acquisition vote scheduled.
Not anymore.
Then Caroline Ames called.
Crestline had submitted a new proposal.
Not for forty-nine percent of the company.
For Hart Alpine’s distressed development subsidiary.
The subsidiary controlled three unfinished resort projects and significant debt.
The board would consider it in four days.
At Raven Peak.
“Why there?”
Caroline sighed.
“Annual winter strategy meeting. Scheduled a year ago. Half the directors already planned to attend.”
“Cancel it.”
“We could.”
“Then do.”
“Daniel, Julian’s lawyers are claiming the company is blocking him from presenting a competing restructuring proposal.”
“Julian is suspended.”
“He is still a shareholder and former executive with contractual rights under the partnership structure.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Of course he is.”
Caroline continued.
“We can move it to Denver.”
Maya whispered, “No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Why?”
“If investigators believe Julian intends to retrieve or use the archive at Raven Peak, changing the meeting may spook him.”
Daniel stared.
“You want the board meeting to become bait.”
“I want law enforcement to decide that.”
They did.
A controlled plan was developed.
No amateur confrontation.
No Daniel playing detective.
Grant would secure the property.
Investigators would monitor permitted areas.
Daniel would attend only as shareholder-observer.
Celeste would not be present unless separately authorized.
Then Emma made the case more personal.
She was sitting with Maria repairing Bunny’s little coat when she found something inside the torn ear.
A strip of paper.
Maria stopped immediately.
“Don’t pull it.”
Grant photographed it.
The paper had been rolled tightly and pushed deep into the stuffing.
It was not another secret card.
It was a handwritten note.
Celeste’s handwriting.
J — old avalanche room compromised. Move insurance to lower cellar before meeting.
Daniel stared.
“Lower cellar.”
Raven Peak had two wine-storage levels.
The lower cellar had been sealed after a plumbing failure years earlier.
Grant checked recent access.
Someone had opened it remotely.
Credential:
Julian Cross.
Date:
The morning of the false accusation.
Daniel felt the entire story fold back toward that night.
Celeste had used Bunny to hide evidence.
Not just the microSD.
She had hidden instructions too.
Maybe she intended to retrieve them.
Maybe she wanted Emma unknowingly carrying her insurance policy.
Either way, the stuffed rabbit Celeste had threatened to throw into the snow had been holding the secret that could destroy her conspiracy.
Grant inspected the lower cellar.
At first, nothing.
Then he found a false back behind an old rack.
Empty.
But recent scrape marks showed a container had been removed and returned repeatedly.
On the floor lay a broken black plastic fragment.
Priya recognized the model.
A rugged external-drive case.
The archive had been there.
Maybe still was, hidden elsewhere.
Caroline called that evening.
“The Crestline vote is proceeding.”
“When?”
“Friday at eleven.”
Daniel looked toward the dark windows.
A new storm warning had been issued.
Not as severe as the first blizzard.
But heavy snow was coming.
Maya said quietly, “If Julian believes the archive is still at Raven Peak, Friday may be his last chance to control it.”
Daniel thought of the camera.
The key.
The forged consent.
Emma crying on the stairs.
May you like
The board meeting would bring everyone back to the house where the lie began.
And this time, they would know a trap was waiting.
