Chapter 7 - Gunsmoke in the Hallway
"Get down!" Ross shouted, drawing his firearm and shoving Evelyn behind the unmarked sedan.
The officers drew their weapons instantly, spreading across the manicured lawn, aiming toward the second-floor terrace. Glass rained down onto the driveway.
"Mom!" Julian shouted, moving toward the front doors.
"Julian, stay down!" Evelyn yelled, breaking away from the car and grabbing Julian by the sleeve, pulling him behind a brick pillar near the entryway. "That wasn't Margaret shooting at us! Look!"
On the second-floor balcony, a figure stood silhouetted against the hall light. It wasn't Margaret. It was Robert Vance—Margaret’s estranged brother and the head of security for Vance Logistics. He held a hunting rifle, his face twisted in panic.
"Nobody moves!" Robert screamed down at the police. "Ross, get your people off this property, or the server room burns right now!"
"Robert!" Margaret’s voice shrieked from inside the house. "Put the gun down, you idiot!"
Julian lunged through the front double doors before the officers could stop him. "Uncle Robert! Stop!"
Julian sprinted into the grand foyer. The air smelled of burnt gunpowder. Up on the mezzanine, Robert was clutching a can of industrial lighter fluid and a rifle. Downstairs, Margaret was screaming at him, trying to wrestle the rifle away.
"You said they’d never trace the plates, Margaret!" Robert yelled down at his sister, sweat pouring down his face. "You said the black box was destroyed! The cops are here! We're going away for life!"
"Shut up, Robert!" Margaret shrieked. "Shut your mouth!"
Julian stopped at the base of the staircase, the pieces violently clicking together in his head. The unidentified truck that had rammed Thomas’s car off the highway four years ago... it wasn't a random hit-and-run.
"It was you," Julian whispered, looking up at his uncle. "You were driving the truck."
Robert looked down at Julian, his eyes wild with guilt and terror. "She made me do it, Julian! Thomas was going to expose the offshore accounts! He was going to take the entire company down! Your mother said we just had to scare him... but he swerved... he went off the cliff!"
"Robert, shut up or I'll kill you myself!" Margaret screamed, lunging at her brother.
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A second shot fired into the ceiling plaster.
Evelyn sprinted through the front doors just as Robert lost his footing on the stairs, tumbling down the flight of steps with a sickening crash, the rifle clattering across the marble floor straight to Julian’s feet.
