Chapter 7: The Empty Coffin
Victor didn't remember deciding to go to the cemetery.
One moment he was standing in Noah's old nursery with the second will in his hand.
The next, he was in the back of Daniel's SUV, watching iron gates open beneath a gray afternoon sky.
Rain had begun to fall.
The same kind of rain that had fallen the night Elise died.
Daniel sat beside him.
“Police want you to stay away from the crypt.””
“Then they can tell me that themselves.””
“Victor.””
“My father was buried here.””
“Apparently not.””
Victor looked out the window.
That was precisely the problem.
The Blackwood family cemetery occupied six private acres behind an old stone chapel north of the city. Alexander's crypt stood at the highest point.
Police vehicles surrounded it.
Victor stepped from the SUV.
Detective Laura Hayes met him halfway up the path.
“You shouldn't be here.””
“What's inside?””
“An empty coffin.””
“I want to see it.””
“It's an active scene.””
“My family's active scene.””
Hayes studied him before sighing.
“Don't touch anything.””
Inside the crypt, the air smelled of wet stone.
Alexander's coffin had been removed from its marble compartment.
The lid was open.
Empty velvet.
Nothing else.
Victor stared.
He had spent five years grieving a man who apparently had never been placed beneath the earth.
“Was there ever a body?”” Victor asked.
“We don't know yet,” Hayes replied.
“What about the funeral home?””
“We're locating records.””
“Locating?””
“The funeral home closed four years ago.””
Victor laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.””
Daniel crouched near the coffin.
“Victor.””
Something small rested beneath the torn interior lining.
A brass key.
Hayes photographed it before lifting it with gloved hands.
A number had been engraved into the metal.
317.
Victor recognized the design.
“Grand Central.””
Hayes looked at him.
“What?””
“Old station locker key.””
Daniel nodded.
“Could be.””
Victor stared at the key.
Someone had opened the crypt.
Someone had wanted that key found.
“Serena,” Victor said.
Hayes frowned.
“Why would she lead us to evidence?””
“Because she doesn't think she's losing.””
Victor's phone buzzed.
Another unknown message.
*He left you the truth. She hid it from you.*
A second followed.
*Locker 317. Come alone.*
Victor showed Daniel.
“No,” Daniel said immediately.
Hayes agreed.
“Absolutely not.””
Victor typed:
*Where is Serena?*
The answer came quickly.
*Closer to Noah than you think.*
Victor's blood turned cold.
He called the hospital.
No answer from the private room.
Again.
Nothing.
“Daniel.””
Daniel was already calling hospital security.
Victor ran.
By the time they reached the SUV, Daniel had someone on the line.
“Confirm Noah Blackwood's location.””
Victor watched his face.
“Now.””
A pause.
Daniel exhaled.
“He's safe. Dr. Grant is with him. Two officers outside.””
Victor closed his eyes briefly.
Then another message arrived.
*You can't guard him forever.*
Victor showed Hayes.
“That sounds like a threat,” she said.
“It is.””
The police agreed to inspect locker 317 before Victor went near it.
An hour later, Victor stood inside a secure transit-police office while Hayes placed a sealed evidence box on a table.
“This was inside.””
She opened it.
A handheld recorder.
Several photographs.
A bank statement.
And a letter.
Victor recognized the handwriting.
Alexander's.
*Victor—if this reaches you, I failed to clean up the mess I created.*
Victor's throat tightened.
He continued reading.
Alexander wrote that Julian Cross had never truly disappeared.
After being forced out of Blackwood Holdings, Julian had spent years building shell companies and buying hidden stakes through intermediaries.
Then Alexander discovered something worse.
Julian had a daughter.
Serena.
And Alexander had secretly funded her childhood.
Victor stopped.
“Why?””
Hayes gestured toward the recorder.
“We haven't played that yet.””
Daniel pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then Alexander Blackwood's voice emerged.
Older.
Weak.
But unmistakable.
“If Victor ever hears this, he deserves the truth.””
Victor gripped the table.
“I destroyed Julian,” Alexander said.
“And I convinced myself I had the right. I took his company, his reputation…and the woman he loved.””
Victor looked toward Daniel.
His mother.
Alexander continued.
“Years later, Julian came to me with a little girl. Serena. He said she was mine.””
Victor stopped breathing.
Daniel paused the recording.
“No.””
Victor stared at him.
“Continue.””
The recorder played.
“I refused to believe him. Margaret insisted Julian was lying. But I paid for Serena's schooling because doubt is an expensive thing to live with.””
Victor's hands went numb.
Serena might not be Julian's daughter.
She might be Alexander's.
Victor's half-sister.
His fiancée.
Victor shoved himself away from the table.
“I need air.””
Hayes stopped him.
“There's more.””
“I said I need—”
“Elise's name is on the recording.””
Victor froze.
Daniel pressed play.
“Elise found the payments,” Alexander's voice said.
“She began asking questions after my supposed death.””
Victor slowly turned back.
Supposed death.
Alexander knew.
The recording continued.
“Yes. I staged my death.””
Victor's knees nearly gave way.
“I had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I had months. Julian was threatening Victor and Evelyn. I believed disappearing would draw him away from them.””
Victor whispered, “You coward.””
Alexander's recorded voice continued as though answering him.
“It was cowardice. I know that now.””
He explained that Margaret had arranged the false death with a physician and funeral director. Alexander had moved between private residences while trying to dismantle Julian's financial network.
But Elise discovered him.
“She found me,” Alexander said.
“And she was furious.””
Victor remembered the security image.
Elise beside the man dressed like Alexander.
Except perhaps the man wasn't Julian.
Perhaps it really had been his father.
“Elise demanded I tell Victor everything. I agreed. We planned to meet the following morning.””
The recording crackled.
“She never made it.””
Victor's eyes burned.
Alexander's voice became unsteady.
“Her brakes were cut.””
Hayes leaned closer.
“Did he know who did it?””
The answer came seconds later.
“I believed Julian killed her.””
Victor closed his eyes.
Then Alexander added:
“I was wrong.””
Everyone in the room went still.
“The person who ordered Elise's death was someone she trusted.””
A long burst of static swallowed the next words.
Daniel adjusted the recorder.
Alexander's voice returned.
“…proof is in the lake house.””
Victor leaned forward.
“What lake house?””
The recording ended.
His phone rang immediately.
Margaret.
Victor answered.
“Mother.””
She was crying.
Victor had heard Margaret Blackwood cry only once in his life.
“Victor, listen to me.””
“What lake house?””
Silence.
“Mother.””
“You found the recording.””
“What lake house?””
“Your father owned a cabin under another name.””
“Where?””
Margaret gave him an address.
Then she whispered, “Victor, don't go.””
“Why?””
“Because if Alexander left evidence there…”
May you like
Her voice broke.
“…it proves I lied to you about more than his death.””
