Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN AT THE MANSION
Edward reached the mansion with police twelve minutes later.
The front doors were open.
A broken window glittered across the foyer.
“Caroline!”
No answer.
Detective Mitchell drew her weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
They found Caroline Bennett in the library.
Alive.
Terrified.
She was crouched behind a leather sofa holding a brass fireplace poker.
“Don’t shoot!”
Mitchell lowered her weapon.
“Police.”
Caroline burst into tears.
Edward looked around.
“Who was here?”
“A man.”
“Describe him.”
“Tall.”
“Dark hair.”
“Gray jacket.”
She swallowed.
“He knew my name.”
Daniel Cross.
Edward was sure.
“What did he want?”
“This.”
Caroline pulled a flash drive from her pocket.
“My father gave it to me two days before he died.”
Edward stared.
“What’s on it?”
“I never knew.”
“You never opened it?”
“I tried.”
“It’s encrypted.”
She looked toward Florence’s study.
“Your private investigator told me Florence might know the password.”
Edward’s stomach twisted.
His mother had been collecting pieces from Victoria’s past like someone building a case while standing inside a burning house.
Caroline gripped the drive.
“My father was scared before he died.”
“He said Vanessa was pressuring him to change his trust.”
“Same thing she did to my mother.”
Caroline nodded.
“When he refused, he started getting sick.”
Edward looked at Mitchell.
Same pattern.
Again.
Caroline continued.
“He got dizzy.”
“Forgot things.”
“Fell twice.”
“Doctors said stress.”
“Then one night, he fell from the upstairs balcony.”
Her voice broke.
“Vanessa told everyone he was drunk.”
“Was he?”
“My father hadn’t had alcohol in eighteen years.”
Edward felt rage build again.
Caroline wiped her eyes.
“I was nineteen.”
“I knew something was wrong.”
“But nobody listened.”
Edward crouched in front of her.
“I’m listening.”
She looked at him.
“So did your mother.”
They brought the flash drive to Florence’s study.
Caroline remembered her father repeating one phrase before his death.
“The bird always comes home.”
Edward thought of Victoria’s gold bird pendant.
He entered BIRD.
Wrong.
Caroline whispered,
“Try RAVEN.”
Wrong.
Florence called from the hospital.
Edward explained.
She went quiet.
“Try AURELIA.”
Edward frowned.
“What is that?”
“Your grandmother’s middle name.”
He typed it.
The drive unlocked.
Folders appeared.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Audio files.
Edward clicked the first recording.
Martin Bennett’s voice filled the room.
“If anything happens to me, Vanessa Crowe is responsible.”
Caroline covered her mouth.
Martin continued.
“She and Daniel have done this before.”
Edward looked at Mitchell.
Then the next sentence played.
“They use doctors, caregivers, financial advisers.”
“They isolate people.”
“They change medication.”
“They forge incapacity documents.”
“And when that doesn’t work…”
Martin inhaled shakily.
“They make accidents happen.”
Caroline began crying.
Edward reached for the next file.
Before he could click it, every light in the mansion went out.
Mitchell looked toward the hallway.
“That wasn’t the storm.”
Edward heard footsteps upstairs.
May you like
Then Victoria’s voice floated through the darkness.
“You should have left the past buried, Edward.”
