Chapter 9 - Midnight at Blackwood
The original will was hidden at Blackwood.
Daniel knew the name.
Every Vale did.
Blackwood was the abandoned family estate three hours north of the city, a place his grandfather had built in the 1950s and his mother refused to sell.
Daniel had not entered it since he was seventeen.
“Why would Anna's will be there?” he asked.
Evelyn looked toward the officers surrounding her.
“Because Anna didn't trust a bank.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You expect me to believe she trusted my family's abandoned house instead?”
“She trusted one person inside it.”
“Who?”
“The caretaker.”
Daniel remembered him immediately.
Samuel Reed.
Samuel had served the Vale family for forty years.
He had disappeared shortly after Anna's funeral.
Daniel had assumed he'd retired.
Evelyn shook her head.
“He didn't retire.”
Morales leaned forward.
“What happened to him?”
“No one knows.”
Daniel looked at Nathan.
The attorney seemed increasingly uncomfortable.
“Nathan?”
“I was told Samuel moved overseas.”
“By whom?”
Nathan hesitated.
“Beatrice.”
Daniel's anger sharpened.
Of course.
Always Beatrice.
The woman who had controlled the family calendar, staff, lawyers, charities and image for decades.
The woman who had taught Daniel that loyalty meant obedience.
Morales insisted police accompany them to Blackwood.
Daniel insisted Sophie remain at the hospital under armed protection.
At 8:40 p.m., they left.
Rain hammered the highway.
Evelyn rode in the back of an unmarked police SUV.
Daniel sat beside Morales.
Nathan followed in another car.
No one trusted anyone.
At 11:17 p.m., Blackwood appeared beyond iron gates.
The mansion looked dead.
Forty rooms.
Stone towers.
Dark windows.
A clock above the entrance frozen at 3:12.
Morales sent officers around the perimeter.
The front door was unlocked.
Daniel pushed it open.
Dust moved in the flashlight beams.
They entered.
Evelyn led them toward the library.
“How do you know where you're going?” Daniel asked.
“I was here once.”
“When?”
“The week before Anna died.”
Daniel stopped.
“You saw her?”
Evelyn turned.
“She came to me.”
That revelation struck harder than the others.
Anna had told Daniel she never wanted to see Evelyn again.
“She visited you in prison?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To ask whether I believed someone could murder family for money.”
Daniel stared.
“And what did you tell her?”
Evelyn's eyes hardened.
“That I knew better than most.”
They entered the library.
Books climbed twenty feet toward a painted ceiling.
At the center stood a massive oak desk.
Evelyn walked behind it.
“There.”
She pointed to a carved symbol beneath the edge.
A small bird.
Daniel recognized it.
Anna used to draw the same bird on Sophie's lunch notes.
He pressed it.
A hidden drawer clicked open.
Inside was a brass key.
Nothing else.
Daniel picked it up.
Evelyn whispered, “Samuel moved it.”
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Morales raised her weapon.
“Police!”
Silence.
Then footsteps.
Running.
Two officers raced toward the staircase.
A door slammed above.
Daniel followed despite Morales shouting at him.
He reached the second floor.
A figure disappeared around the corridor.
“Mom!”
The figure stopped.
Beatrice turned.
Her elegant clothes were soaked from the rain.
She carried a leather document case.
Daniel approached.
“Give it to me.”
Beatrice smiled sadly.
“You've always been so easily manipulated.”
“Camille tried to kill Sophie.”
“Yes.”
“You knew.”
Beatrice's face did not change.
“I knew Camille was desperate.”
“That's not an answer.”
“She was never supposed to touch the child.”
Daniel stared.
“Then what was supposed to happen?”
Beatrice sighed.
“An accident.”
The words were so calm they frightened him.
Behind Daniel, Morales quietly activated her body camera.
Beatrice continued.
“Sophie would have been taken from the estate for a few months. The trust could have been challenged. Camille ruined everything by becoming emotional.”
Daniel felt physically ill.
“My daughter almost died.”
“And she didn't.”
Beatrice spoke as if that ended the matter.
“You think this family survives because people are kind, Daniel? Your grandfather destroyed competitors. Your father buried scandals. I protected you from things that would have destroyed your life.”
“You killed Anna.”
For the first time, Beatrice reacted.
Barely.
A flicker.
But Daniel saw it.
Evelyn stepped into the hallway.
“So did I.”
Daniel turned sharply.
Evelyn's expression was grim.
“Ask her what happened on Highway 17.”
Beatrice's eyes narrowed.
“Shut up.”
Evelyn smiled.
“Still afraid of the truth after all these years?”
Beatrice clutched the document case tighter.
Morales stepped forward.
“Mrs. Vale, put down the case.”
Beatrice backed toward the balcony doors.
“No.”
“Put it down.”
“You don't understand what this contains.”
Daniel stared.
“The original will?”
Beatrice laughed.
“No.”
She opened the case.
Inside was a red ledger.
Daniel's confusion deepened.
“What is that?”
Evelyn's face changed.
For the first time all evening, she looked truly shocked.
“You found it.”
Beatrice glanced toward her.
“You should have burned it when you had the chance.”
Morales asked, “What is the ledger?”
Evelyn answered.
“Thirty years of payments.”
“To whom?”
“Judges. Politicians. Contractors. Lawyers.”
Nathan appeared at the top of the stairs.
His face went white when he saw it.
Daniel noticed.
“You know that book.”
Nathan did not answer.
Beatrice smiled.
“Of course he does.”
Daniel slowly looked at the man who had advised his family for eighteen years.
“Nathan?”
Beatrice's smile widened.
“Ask your loyal attorney who helped change Anna's vehicle inspection report.”
Nathan took one step backward.
Daniel felt the world drop beneath him.
“You?”
Nathan shook his head.
“Daniel—”
“You helped cover up her death?”
“No. I changed paperwork after the accident. I didn't know—”
Beatrice suddenly turned.
She ran.
Morales shouted.
Beatrice pushed through the balcony doors.
Rain exploded into the hallway.
Daniel followed.
His mother reached the stone railing.
Below them was a ravine.
“Mom, stop!”
Beatrice climbed onto the ledge.
Daniel's anger vanished.
“Don't.”
She looked at him.
“You were never strong enough to lead this family.”
Daniel took a slow step closer.
“Come down.”
“You chose Anna.”
Another step.
“Come down.”
“Then you chose Sophie.”
Daniel's voice broke.
“She's my daughter.”
“And the company was supposed to be your life!”
“No.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
“You were wrong about that.”
Sirens echoed beyond the estate.
Beatrice's eyes filled with tears.
For one second, she looked less like a mastermind and more like an old woman who had spent her entire life confusing control with love.
Then a gunshot exploded from inside the mansion.
Beatrice screamed.
Daniel spun around.
Nathan Cole was standing in the balcony doorway.
A pistol shook in his hand.
Detective Morales collapsed against the wall.
May you like
And Nathan aimed directly at Daniel.
“Give me the ledger,” he whispered.
