Chapter 10 - THE LAST COPY
I finally understood why I had been hired at Sterling Manor.
I had believed I answered an ordinary employment advertisement.
I had not.
Jonathan’s records showed he approved my application personally.
He wanted me close.
He believed my mother had given me evidence before she died.
But I knew nothing.
Until Ethan cried through the wall.
William apologized.
“You walked into this because of my family.”
“No.”
“I should have known.”
“You were lied to.”
“So were you.”
That night, I returned to my apartment with police.
Everything had been destroyed.
Drawers emptied.
Furniture overturned.
Photographs ripped apart.
Nothing appeared stolen.
Someone had been searching.
Then I saw my mother’s old sewing machine.
It had been moved.
Inside its wooden base, I found a tiny compartment.
There was a memory card.
My mother had hidden it eleven years earlier.
The files contained financial records connecting Jonathan and Margaret to offshore accounts.
There were also emails about Rebecca.
One message had been sent three days before her death.
SHE WILL NOT STOP.
HANDLE IT AT THE LAKE.
Another response came from Jonathan.
I’LL MAKE SURE WILLIAM BELIEVES IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.
William read it twice.
Then he walked outside.
I followed.
He stood beneath a streetlight.
For several minutes, he said nothing.
Finally, he whispered.
“I buried my wife believing she slipped.”
I did not know what to say.
He looked toward me.
“And I let the people responsible comfort me at her funeral.”
Before I could answer, my phone rang.
Jonathan.
“Claire.”
Police immediately began tracing the call.
Jonathan sounded calm.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
“No.”
“You have Elena’s card.”
I said nothing.
“You think William will protect you?”
“He’s not the one you should worry about.”
Jonathan laughed.
Then he said something that made me stop.
“Ask William why your mother was at Rebecca’s lake house the night she died.”
The call ended.
May you like
I turned toward William.
His face told me he already knew.
