Chapter 9: The Dead Woman
I called Mrs. Carter.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
“Move.””
I pushed past Richard.
Thomas grabbed my shoulder.
“Daniel, think.””
I knocked his hand away.
“My daughter is with a woman I buried four months ago.””
William stepped toward me.
“I’m coming.””
“No.””
“You don’t know what you’re walking into.””
“I haven’t known what I was walking into since I opened that wall.””
Samuel grabbed his coat.
“We take separate cars.””
Richard laughed.
“You’re all running exactly where she wants you.””
I stopped.
“You knew Margaret was alive.””
His smile vanished.
That was enough.
I stepped closer.
“You knew.””
Richard glanced at Thomas.
Thomas looked away.
William stared at them.
“What did you do?””
Richard’s silence confirmed more than an answer could.
Evelyn moved toward him.
“My sister had cancer.””
“She had a diagnosis,” Richard replied.
My skin prickled.
“What does that mean?””
Richard sighed.
“Margaret discovered someone had been accessing Daniel’s trust.””
I frowned.
“What trust?””
William answered.
“The inheritance I created for you.””
“How much?””
He hesitated.
“Approximately eighty-six million dollars.””
I stared at him.
Richard continued.
“Margaret realised withdrawals had been disguised as medical and property expenses. She needed everyone to believe she was dying while she investigated.””
I remembered the hospital.
Her weakened voice.
The closed curtains.
The private doctors Vanessa arranged.
“You’re saying she faked cancer?””
“No,” Richard said.
“She was ill. Just not terminal.””
“Then whose body did I bury?””
No one answered.
My stomach twisted.
Thomas finally said, “A woman from a private care facility. No known relatives.””
I stared at him in horror.
“You did this before.””
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“Margaret arranged it.””
The same pattern.
Bodies becoming identities.
Deaths becoming hiding places.
My mother had learned the family’s ugliest trick.
And used it herself.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Vanessa.
*COME HOME. ALONE. LILY IS SAFE.*
I showed no one.
I simply ran.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled into my driveway.
Every downstairs light was on.
The front door stood open.
“Lily!””
“Dad!””
She ran from the living room.
I dropped to my knees and caught her.
I checked her face, arms, hands.
“You okay?””
“Yes.””
“Mrs. Carter?””
“Kitchen.””
Mrs. Carter appeared, pale but unharmed.
“I tried calling you,” I said.
“Vanessa asked me not to answer.””
“And you listened?””
Then Margaret entered.
Everything inside me stopped.
She wore a simple cream blouse and dark trousers.
Her hair was shorter.
She looked thinner.
But alive.
Completely, undeniably alive.
“Hello, Daniel.””
I stood slowly.
I had watched a coffin descend into the earth.
I had spent nights sitting in her empty bedroom.
I had cried until my chest hurt.
Now she stood twelve feet away.
“You let me bury you.””
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“Yes.””
“You let Lily cry for you.””
“I know.””
“Don’t say you know.””
She lowered her head.
“You’re right.””
Vanessa appeared behind her.
I immediately moved Lily behind me.
“Stay away from her.””
Vanessa stopped.
“Daniel, I never hurt Lily.””
“You lied about everything.””
“Yes.””
Margaret interrupted.
“Because I asked her to.””
I looked at her.
“You recruited my wife to spy on me?””
“No.””
“Thomas did.””
Vanessa flinched.
Margaret continued.
“When Vanessa discovered what her father really wanted, she came to me.””
I looked at Vanessa.
“When?””
“Three weeks before our wedding.””
“You still married me.””
“Because I loved you.””
“You could have told me.””
“Margaret believed Thomas would disappear if he knew I had switched sides.””
Margaret stepped forward.
“Vanessa helped me protect Samuel.””
“So the hidden room?””
“Was built decades ago.””
“And the plaster?””
“Vanessa sealed it after Thomas began searching the property.””
I thought of her dragging Lily away.
“She panicked because Lily found him.””
“Yes.””
My anger shifted but didn’t disappear.
“Who sent the recording?””
Margaret looked toward the dining room.
“I did.””
“You said the person I trusted most betrayed you.””
“Yes.””
“Vanessa?””
“No.””
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Margaret shook her head.
“I knew you would assume that.””
“Then who?””
She walked to the table.
A laptop sat open beside several folders.
Margaret touched one key.
Security footage appeared.
My office.
The timestamp was six months earlier.
Someone entered.
A man.
He opened my desk.
Photographed documents.
Then connected a device to my computer.
I leaned closer.
My stomach dropped.
I knew him.
David Mercer.
My business partner.
My best friend since university.
Lily’s godfather.
“No.””
Margaret paused the footage.
“David has been moving money from your trust for seven years.””
I stared at the screen.
“Why?””
“He works for Richard.””
A sound came from the front hall.
Lily looked up.
“Dad?””
A floorboard creaked.
Vanessa whispered, “Mrs. Carter locked that door.””
Margaret’s face changed.
Then a familiar male voice came from the darkness.
“Actually, she didn’t.””
David stepped into the room.
He looked at me.
Then at Margaret.
May you like
And smiled.
“Nice to see the dead still know how to keep appointments.””
