Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
The investigation changed overnight.
Police confirmed Daniel had died twelve years earlier.
Victor remained missing.
And my family suddenly became very quiet.
Too quiet.
Diane stopped defending herself.
Marissa stopped demanding the house.
Colin disappeared from the property.
Then Nathan discovered something buried inside the trust records.
A payment had been made every month for twenty-nine years.
To an unknown woman.
The account holder was listed as:
E. Carter.
Evelyn stared at the document.
“That isn't me.”
Nathan frowned.
“Then who is E. Carter?”
We traced the account.
It belonged to a nursing facility in Pennsylvania.
An elderly woman had been receiving payments there.
Her name was Eleanor Carter.
My grandmother's sister.
My great-aunt.
We traveled there that afternoon.
Eleanor was ninety-one.
When she saw me, she began crying.
“You have her eyes.”
“Whose?”
“Your grandmother's.”
I sat beside her.
“Why was money sent to you?”
She looked toward the door.
“Because I kept quiet.”
“About what?”
She leaned closer.
“Your grandfather's murder.”
My hands went cold.
She told us the truth.
Daniel had been stealing from the company.
Victor helped him.
But there was a third person.
Someone who had access to every account.
Someone who could erase records.
Someone who controlled the family from behind the scenes.
“Who?”
Eleanor looked at my mother.
Diane had followed us into the room.
Eleanor whispered:
“Your father.”
I stared at my mother.
“My father?”
She nodded slowly.
“Your father knew.”
“About the theft?”
“Everything.”
My mother began crying.
“He wasn't the innocent man you thought he was.”
Eleanor continued.
“Your father didn't kill your grandfather. But he helped cover it up.”
I felt dizzy.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel threatened to expose him.”
Nathan looked horrified.
“What happened to your father?”
Eleanor's expression changed.
“He didn't die naturally either.”
Silence.
“Then how?”
She pointed toward me.
“Your grandmother arranged his death to stop him from destroying the family.”
I stood abruptly.
“That doesn't make sense.”
Eleanor smiled sadly.
“Your grandmother was not a perfect woman, Nora.”
Then she handed me a photograph.
It showed my grandmother standing beside a young man.
Victor.
But behind them was someone else.
A woman.
I recognized her immediately.
The woman from the nursing facility.
Eleanor.
Except she was young.
And she was holding a newborn baby.
Evelyn.
I looked at Eleanor.
“You helped hide my sister.”
“Yes.”
“From Victor?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“From your grandmother.”
My blood ran cold.
“Why would Grandma hide Evelyn?”
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Evelyn wasn't the only child your grandmother was protecting.”
She looked directly at me.
May you like
“She was protecting you too.”
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