Chapter 5
Daniel pushed Lily and me to the floor.
Glass cracked in the back room.
Someone was inside.
I reached for my phone, but a hand grabbed my ankle from the darkness.
I kicked as hard as I could.
The intruder cursed.
Daniel charged toward the sound.
Furniture crashed.
Lily crawled beneath the kitchen table.
I switched on my phone’s flashlight.
A large man had Daniel against the wall.
He wore a dark suit.
His face matched Daniel’s general build, but not enough to fool anyone who knew him closely.
Cole.
He punched Daniel in the ribs.
I struck Cole’s shoulder with a chair.
He turned toward me.
That gave Daniel time to tackle him.
They fell across the kitchen floor.
Police sirens grew louder outside.
Cole tore free and ran through the broken back door.
An officer caught him near the fence.
Daniel dropped to his knees beside Lily.
She crawled into his arms.
Cole had come for the photograph connecting Vanessa to Emma.
He had also searched for the blue box.
Detective Ruiz arrived and questioned him in a patrol car.
At first, Cole said nothing.
Then officers found a key to Vanessa’s storage unit in his pocket.
Ruiz obtained an emergency warrant.
Inside the unit, they found the blue box.
They also found copies of Daniel’s financial records, forged medical reports, and photographs taken through our windows.
But Emma’s letters were the most disturbing.
Daniel opened the first one with shaking hands.
Emma had written it six months before her death.
Daniel,
If something happens to me, do not trust Vanessa Cross. She has been following me. She believes my inheritance should have belonged to her family.
Daniel stopped reading.
Patricia’s maiden name was Cross.
The next letter explained everything.
Emma and Vanessa were half-sisters.
They shared the same father.
Emma’s mother had married him first and helped him build a successful company.
After their divorce, he married Patricia.
Years later, when he died, most of his estate went to Emma because the business shares had originally belonged to her mother.
Patricia never forgave her.
Vanessa believed Emma had stolen her future.
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
“Why didn’t Emma tell me?”
The last letter answered that question.
Vanessa had threatened to expose an old mistake Emma had made as a teenager.
Emma feared Daniel would see her differently.
But the secret was small compared with what Vanessa had done.
Vanessa had used Emma’s shame to stay close to her.
Then Emma died in a single-car accident on a dry road.
The official report blamed a mechanical failure.
Detective Ruiz read the final page.
His expression hardened.
“Emma wrote that Vanessa tampered with her medication two weeks before the crash.”
Daniel stood so quickly that his chair fell backward.
“You think Vanessa killed her?”
“We don’t know.”
Cole finally agreed to talk.
He admitted helping with the custody scheme.
He said Vanessa had promised him two hundred thousand dollars after gaining control of Lily’s trust.
Then he gave Ruiz something worse.
On the morning of Emma’s accident, Cole had driven Vanessa to Emma’s house.
Vanessa returned twenty minutes later carrying a pair of gloves and a small tool bag.
“What did she do?” Daniel demanded.
Cole looked toward the floor.
“I never asked.”
Ruiz took him away.
Daniel stared at Emma’s letters.
Vanessa was already facing charges for hitting Lily and stealing money.
Now she might be connected to Emma’s death.
His phone rang.
The county jail was calling.
Vanessa wanted to speak to him.
He answered.
May you like
Her voice was calm.
“If you want the truth about Emma’s final day, come see me alone.”
