Chapter 8 - VICTORIA CAME HOME
Edward moved toward the sound.
Mitchell grabbed his sleeve.
“Don’t.”
“She's in my house.”
“She wants you angry.”
Victoria laughed somewhere above them.
“Listen to the detective, sweetheart.”
Edward stared into the dark staircase.
“What do you want?”
“The drive.”
“No.”
“Then Caroline won’t leave here alive.”
Caroline went pale.
Mitchell motioned toward the side hallway.
Two officers moved silently.
Edward kept Victoria talking.
“You’re surrounded.”
“I know.”
“You can’t escape.”
“I’ve escaped worse.”
“What happened to Martin?”
Silence.
Then Victoria answered.
“He was careless.”
Caroline lunged toward the staircase.
“You murdered him!”
Edward caught her.
Victoria laughed.
“That spoiled little girl never understood her father.”
Caroline screamed,
“He understood you!”
A gunshot cracked.
Wood exploded from the stair railing.
Everyone dropped.
Mitchell shouted,
“Police! Drop the weapon!”
Another shot.
Then footsteps.
Fast.
Edward saw a shadow cross the upstairs landing.
An officer ran toward the back staircase.
Edward ignored Mitchell and followed.
“Edward!”
He reached the second floor.
Victoria disappeared around the corner.
“Stop!”
He chased her into his father’s old bedroom.
The window was open.
Curtains whipped in the night wind.
Victoria stood beside it.
A small handgun in one hand.
Edward stopped.
“Put it down.”
She smiled.
“You still think you know me.”
“No.”
“I think I never did.”
Her smile faded.
“That’s what your mother wanted.”
“My mother wanted me alive.”
“No.”
“Your mother wanted you obedient.”
Edward shook his head.
“This isn’t about her anymore.”
Victoria lifted the gun slightly.
“She took everything from me.”
“She wouldn’t give you her money.”
“She humiliated me.”
“She exposed you.”
Victoria’s eyes changed.
For the first time, Edward saw fear.
Real fear.
“She had no right to investigate me.”
Edward stared.
“You poisoned her.”
“I managed her symptoms.”
“You altered her records.”
“She was already sick.”
“You tried to convince her she was dying.”
Victoria’s voice cracked.
“Because she wouldn’t sign!”
There it was.
Not denial.
Admission.
Edward’s phone was recording inside his pocket.
He took one slow step.
Victoria noticed.
“Don’t.”
“I loved you.”
Something flickered across her face.
Then disappeared.
“No, Edward.”
“You loved the woman I built for you.”
He stopped.
Victoria smiled sadly.
“She was good, wasn’t she?”
Edward felt something inside him break.
The laugh at the charity auction.
The Sunday breakfasts.
The way she rested her head on his shoulder during storms.
The anniversary letters.
A performance.
All of it.
Police footsteps thundered in the hallway.
Victoria turned toward the open window.
Edward saw a rope hanging outside.
She had prepared an escape.
Mitchell entered.
“Victoria! Drop the gun!”
Victoria fired toward the ceiling.
Everyone flinched.
She threw herself through the window.
Edward ran forward.
The rope swung empty.
Mitchell looked down.
A motorcycle roared from the garden.
Daniel.
Victoria climbed on behind him.
They tore through the service gate.
Caroline stepped into the room behind Edward.
Her face was white.
“She got away.”
Mitchell looked at Edward.
“Not entirely.”
She pointed at his jacket.
“Tell me your phone was recording.”
Edward pulled it out.
The red timer was still running.
But before anyone could celebrate, Caroline’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her face collapsed.
“What?”
Edward turned.
Caroline slowly lowered the phone.
“That was the hospital.”
He already knew.
His voice barely came out.
“My mother?”
May you like
Caroline whispered,
“Florence is missing.”
