Chapter 9 - THE SECOND RECORDER
Rachel remembered Rose repairing the bag.
“Mom put something flat under the purple lining,” she said.
An evidence technician opened the interior seam.
Inside was a memory card no larger than a fingernail.
It contained one video.
Rose had recorded it from behind a partly open closet door six weeks before her death.
Arthur and Natalie stood inside the bedroom.
Natalie wore a white dress.
Not a wedding gown, but close enough that Rose titled the file:
FOR THEIR WEDDING.
Arthur held the life-insurance policy.
Natalie asked when they could marry.
“As soon as the investigation ends,” he said.
“What investigation?”
“The fall.”
Rose’s hidden camera shifted as her hand trembled.
Natalie looked alarmed.
“You keep saying that like it’s already happened.”
Arthur laughed.
“It will look like she mixed wine and pills. She uses the stairs after midnight.”
“You’re talking about killing her.”
“I’m talking about being free.”
Natalie moved away.
“No.”
“You already gave me the medication.”
“For signatures.”
“And you already took money from the marina account.”
Natalie’s face changed.
Arthur continued.
“If I fall, you fall. So stop pretending you’re outside this.”
The video showed Arthur planning Rose’s death before the fatal night.
It also showed Natalie resisting murder while remaining involved in coercion and fraud.
The distinction mattered.
The district attorney obtained a warrant adding malice-murder allegations and strengthened the conspiracy case.
Natalie’s lawyer watched the recording with her.
An hour later, Natalie requested a proffer.
She abandoned the courthouse marriage.
But Arthur had not been told.
The detention chapel was prepared Friday morning.
A white floral arrangement stood beside the small lectern. The officiant waited. Arthur entered wearing a dark suit provided by his attorney.
Instead of Natalie, Detective Holloway and two deputies entered.
The marriage license was placed into an evidence folder.
Arthur looked toward the empty doorway.
“Where is she?”
Detective Holloway answered:
“Giving a statement.”
The wedding stopped before Arthur reached the altar.
During her proffer, Natalie admitted she helped Arthur obtain financial documents and supplied zolpidem to make Rose compliant.
She admitted removing Rose’s phone, washing the wineglass, and lying to investigators.
She said Arthur shoved Rose with both hands when Rose tried to pass him at the staircase.
“Did you touch Rose before the fall?” the prosecutor asked.
Natalie began crying.
“Yes.”
Charles’s world seemed to pause when Detective Holloway repeated the answer to me later.
May you like
Natalie had not merely watched.
She had held Rose’s wrist while Arthur forced the unsigned policy papers beneath her hand.
