Chapter 4 - what William left behind
Daniel locked the back office.
"Fire escape."
He pulled a metal cabinet away from the wall, revealing a narrow door.
Emily stared.
"You planned for this?"
"William planned for everything."
"Except dying."
Daniel looked at her.
"No. Especially dying."
That sentence stayed with Emily as they climbed down the rear staircase.
Mark carried Chloe.
A dark sedan waited in the alley.
Daniel tossed Emily the keys.
"Drive."
"What about you?"
"I'll delay them."
"Absolutely not."
"Emily, they came for that card. If we stay together, they get all of us."
Mark grabbed Daniel's shoulder.
"Who are they?"
Daniel looked toward the building.
"People your mother paid."
The office door upstairs crashed open.
Daniel pushed Mark toward the car.
"Go."
Emily drove.
For several minutes nobody spoke.
Chloe eventually fell asleep against Mark's chest.
Emily watched them through the mirror.
Her anger had not disappeared.
But something else was replacing it.
Fear.
Not fear of Barbara as an unpleasant mother-in-law.
Fear of Barbara as someone capable of building an entire hidden structure around their family.
Mark broke the silence.
"I didn't know."
Emily kept her eyes on the road.
"About which part?"
"Daniel. Dad investigating Mom. Any of this."
"But you knew about the trust."
"Yes."
"You knew your mother had access to our finances."
"One account."
"You knew footage was disappearing."
"Yes."
"You knew she had hired a lawyer."
Mark stared through the windshield.
"Yes."
"That's enough."
"For what?"
"For you to have told me."
He had no answer.
They checked into a hotel under Emily's maiden name.
After Chloe was asleep, Emily plugged Daniel's cloned copy of the memory card into the offline laptop he had shoved into her bag before they escaped.
A text file opened automatically.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, BARBARA FOUND THE FIRST COPY.
Emily read it aloud.
William had written the message six weeks before his death.
He described years of financial manipulation.
Shell companies.
Unauthorized transfers.
Changes to estate documents.
Attempts to influence doctors.
Attempts to obtain guardianship documents relating to Chloe.
Then came the part Emily had feared.
Barbara believed the Carter family's assets should remain under Carter control.
Emily was an outsider.
If Mark died or became legally incapable of serving as trustee, Emily might gain influence over Chloe's trust.
Barbara had therefore begun preparing legal arguments that Emily was an unfit parent.
Mark stood.
"That's impossible."
Emily continued reading.
Barbara had collected photographs of Emily drinking wine at company events.
Receipts from work trips.
Medical records relating to Chloe's childhood accidents.
Statements from domestic employees.
Even screenshots of arguments between Emily and Mark.
"How did she get our messages?" Emily asked.
Mark stared at the screen.
"I don't know."
William's note continued.
She is not preparing for something that has happened.
She is preparing for something she intends to cause.
Emily stopped.
Mark whispered, "What does that mean?"
The next paragraph answered.
William believed Barbara planned to create a custody crisis.
Not necessarily through physical harm.
Through evidence.
A missed school pickup.
An unsafe home.
A staged accident.
A fabricated substance allegation.
Enough small incidents could become a pattern.
Enough pattern could become a court case.
Emily covered her mouth.
"She was trying to take Chloe."
Mark sank into a chair.
"No."
"Your father believed she was."
"My mother loves Chloe."
Emily looked at him.
"She locked her outside because she stole a memory card."
"That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
Mark struggled for words.
"I mean she would never actually take her."
Emily stared at him.
"She already did."
"What?"
"For almost an hour tonight."
Mark looked away.
Emily returned to the file.
William's final paragraph contained instructions.
If the evidence ever became necessary, Daniel Reeves had been told to locate a sealed envelope stored in a safe-deposit box.
The box required two keys.
Daniel had one.
The second belonged to Mark.
Mark frowned.
"I don't have a key."
Emily slowly looked at him.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Did your father give you anything before he died?"
Mark thought.
"His watch."
"Anything else?"
"A box."
"What box?"
"I never opened it."
Emily stared.
"Where is it?"
"At the house."
Of course it was.
At the house where Barbara was waiting.
The room went silent.
Then Emily's phone vibrated.
Not the anonymous number.
The porch security application.
MOTION DETECTED.
She opened the live feed.
Barbara stood directly beneath the camera.
She was holding a small wooden box.
Mark whispered, "That's it."
May you like
Barbara looked directly into the lens.
Then she raised a hammer.
