Chapter 2 - THE RECORDING MY MOTHER NEVER WANTED HEARD
Nobody spoke.
Our mother's voice filled the ballroom.
“Anna, if you're hearing this, something has happened to me.”
Anna closed her eyes.
I stared at the phone.
Our mother had been dead for three years.
At least, that's what everyone believed.
The recording continued.
“I don't know who I can trust anymore.”
Daniel whispered:
“Turn it off.”
Anna looked at him.
“No.”
Our mother's voice continued.
“The Whitmore family has been hiding the truth about the trust for years.”
My stomach tightened.
The Whitmore trust.
That was the reason Daniel had married Anna.
At least, that's what I had always suspected.
Our father had created the trust after selling his construction company.
The money was supposed to belong to Anna when she turned thirty-five.
But six months before her thirty-fifth birthday, Daniel convinced her to change the beneficiary.
He claimed it was necessary for tax purposes.
Anna signed.
Then she discovered the documents had been altered.
She tried to confront him.
That's when she disappeared.
Our mother's recording continued.
“Anna, your father didn't leave the money to Daniel.”
A pause.
“He left it to you.”
Rebecca started crying.
Daniel looked furious.
I turned toward Anna.
“You knew?”
“Not until six months before I disappeared.”
The recording continued.
“Daniel knows the trust exists. Rebecca knows. But there is another person involved.”
Our mother's voice became quieter.
“Someone inside our family.”
The recording ended.
The ballroom erupted.
Everyone started talking at once.
The police officer raised his hand.
“Everyone remain calm.”
Daniel shouted:
“This is fabricated!”
Anna shook her head.
“You've been saying that for eight months.”
“I thought you were dead!”
“You helped make people believe I was.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You don't know what you're saying.”
Anna walked toward him.
“I remember the night you tried to kill me.”
The ballroom went silent again.
Daniel's face turned white.
“You remember?”
“Yes.”
Anna's voice trembled.
“I remember the bridge.”
I felt a chill.
“The bridge?”
Anna nodded.
“You drove me there.”
Daniel said nothing.
“You told me we were going to talk.”
She swallowed.
“Then you stopped the car.”
Rebecca began shaking.
Anna looked at her.
“She was there.”
Rebecca whispered:
“Anna…”
“You watched.”
“I was scared.”
“You watched him push me.”
Daniel suddenly stepped forward.
“I didn't push you!”
Anna flinched.
Then smiled sadly.
“You just admitted you were there.”
The officer immediately moved toward him.
Daniel stopped.
The entire room was now watching.
Anna reached into her coat again.
She pulled out the bloodstained key.
“The key was found in the river.”
She placed it on the table.
“This opens the basement vault beneath my father's old house.”
Daniel stared at it.
Rebecca stared at it.
But the person who reacted most strongly wasn't either of them.
It was an elderly man sitting near the back.
He stood slowly.
His face was pale.
Anna looked at him.
“You know this key.”
The man shook his head.
“No.”
Anna's voice became cold.
“You gave it to Daniel.”
The man lowered his eyes.
I recognized him.
He had been my father's attorney.
Mr. Lawson.
The man who had handled our family's trust.
He suddenly whispered:
“Your father should have destroyed that vault.”
Anna stepped closer.
“Why?”
Mr. Lawson looked at her.
“Because what's inside doesn't just prove Daniel tried to kill you.”
May you like
He swallowed.
“It proves your father was murdered.”
