Chapter 12 - THE HOUSEKEEPER’S CONFESSION
Margaret regained consciousness the following afternoon.
Her hospital room was guarded by military police.
Amelia entered alone.
Margaret looked small beneath the white blankets. A bandage covered the side of her head.
“Miss Amelia.”
“You knew I would come.”
Margaret gave a weak smile.
“You always came when someone needed you.”
Amelia placed a chair beside the bed.
“We recovered my father’s recording.”
Margaret’s eyes closed.
“You heard my voice.”
“Yes.”
“I wondered whether that tape still existed.”
“Were you working for Kane?”
Margaret turned toward the window.
“No.”
“Then why were you in Dad’s study?”
“To warn him.”
“About what?”
“Vanessa’s brother.”
“Marcus?”
Margaret nodded.
Amelia waited.
Margaret took a slow breath.
“Marcus Reed was recruited by Dominion Strategic when he was nineteen. He believed he was serving his country. By the time he discovered Dominion was stealing from intelligence operations, he was trapped.”
“Did he give Kane access to the family?”
“Yes.”
“Did Vanessa know?”
“Not at first.”
“And you?”
“I was assigned to watch Robert.”
Amelia’s hand tightened around the chair.
“Assigned by whom?”
“Thomas Bell.”
“His attorney?”
“His intelligence handler.”
The room seemed suddenly colder.
“Dad was an intelligence officer.”
“He was military intelligence long before he became a consultant.”
“What were you?”
“An observer. A courier. Sometimes a protector.”
“You raised us.”
“I loved you.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.
“I was placed inside Hartwood Manor before you were born.”
“To spy on my father?”
“To keep him alive.”
“You failed.”
“Yes.”
The answer carried thirty years of guilt.
Amelia stood and walked to the window.
“Who killed Thomas Bell?”
“Gabriel Shaw pulled the trigger.”
“Did Kane order it?”
“Yes.”
“Who poisoned my father?”
Margaret hesitated.
Amelia turned.
“Who?”
“I delivered the medication.”
Silence filled the room.
Amelia felt the air leave her lungs.
Margaret began crying.
“I did not know it was poison. Shaw replaced Robert’s treatment vials. He told me they were being moved for security.”
“You handed them to him.”
“Yes.”
“You watched him use them.”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed in our house.”
“To protect you.”
“From the consequences of what you had done?”
“To find proof.”
“For eleven years?”
“I found it three weeks ago.”
Amelia stopped.
“The bank statement.”
“I left it in your room.”
“Why now?”
“Because Sabrina’s wedding brought everyone together. Vanessa, Arthur, Jonathan, Marcus, Shaw.”
“And Kane?”
Margaret looked afraid.
“He will be there.”
“At the wedding?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Jonathan invited him as an honored military guest.”
Amelia remembered Vanessa’s planned seating chart. Decorated officers. Senators. Executives.
A perfect stage.
“What proof did you find?”
Margaret raised a trembling hand toward the drawer beside her bed.
Inside was a small key card.
“Robert hid a final archive beneath Hartwood Manor.”
“Where?”
“The old wine cellar.”
“We searched the cellar after he died.”
“Not the original one. The house was built over a wartime command tunnel.”
“What is inside?”
“Robert’s final evidence.”
“Against Kane?”
“Against all of them.”
Amelia looked at the key card.
“Why attack you?”
“I sent a message to Gabriel Shaw.”
“What message?”
“I told him the archive would be opened at the wedding.”
“Why would you warn him?”
“To force him into the open.”
“You nearly got Sabrina and me killed.”
“I did not set the fire.”
“Who did?”
“Marcus.”
Amelia thought of Marcus fighting the attacker at the bank.
“He said he was protecting us.”
“He protects Vanessa. That is not the same thing.”
“Who locked the music room door?”
Margaret’s eyes filled with fear.
“I don’t know.”
Amelia picked up the key card.
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
Margaret looked directly at her.
“I expect you to finish what your father began.”
As Amelia reached the door, Margaret called after her.
“There is something else.”
Amelia turned.
Margaret’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Robert did not create the trust only for you.”
“The documents named me as sole beneficiary.”
“The documents you found did.”
“What does that mean?”
“Robert created a second beneficiary.”
“Who?”
May you like
Margaret closed her eyes.
“The child Vanessa gave away before she married him.”
