Chapter 6 - The Woman Behind Chloe
The woman in the recording was named Rebecca.
At least, that was what Chloe finally admitted.
Rebecca had once worked with Carter's father.
She had disappeared after a corporate investigation.
Carter searched the company records.
Nothing.
Every reference to her had been removed.
Every photograph had been altered.
Every employee file was missing.
It was as if she had never existed.
Maya discovered something else.
An old newspaper clipping hidden behind a cabinet.
The headline was faded.
Carter read it.
Senior Refinery Executive Missing After Corporate Dispute.
The photograph showed Rebecca.
Carter stared.
“She was involved with my father.”
“Yes,” Chloe said.
“In what?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I don't know everything.”
“But you know enough.”
Chloe looked exhausted.
“Rebecca believed your father stole something from her.”
“What?”
“A company.”
Carter frowned.
“She claimed your father had taken control of a refinery that legally belonged to her family.”
Carter shook his head.
“My father built that company.”
“That's what everyone believed.”
“What do you believe?”
Chloe didn't answer.
Carter walked toward her.
“What did Victor promise you?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Enough to disappear.”
“Why did you need to disappear?”
Chloe looked at Eleanor.
“Because I knew they would eventually come for me.”
Carter stopped.
“Who?”
“Everyone involved.”
Maya suddenly entered the room.
“Mr. Hayes.”
She held an envelope.
“This was outside the gate.”
Carter opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Eleanor.
Maya.
Chloe.
Carter.
All four of them standing in the mansion.
The photograph had been taken that morning.
On the back was a message.
ONE OF YOU HAS ALREADY CHOSEN A SIDE.
Carter looked at everyone.
Nobody spoke.
Then Eleanor whispered:
“Maya.”
Maya froze.
Carter turned toward her.
“What?”
Eleanor stared at the young housekeeper.
“She was the one who brought me the letter.”
Maya's face changed.
“What letter?”
“The letter that told me to trust no one.”
Carter looked at Maya.
“You gave her a letter?”
Maya shook her head.
“I've never written her anything.”
Eleanor pointed toward the envelope.
“That handwriting.”
Carter looked closer.
It matched the handwriting on his father's letter.
The same slant.
The same spacing.
The same strange way the letter T was crossed.
Carter whispered:
“My father wrote this.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No.”
She looked terrified.
“Your father died six years ago.”
Carter stared at the paper.
May you like
Then he noticed the date written at the bottom.
Yesterday.
