Chapter 9 - The Chapel Meeting
The northern chapel stood beyond Ashbourne’s boundary, abandoned since the village parish consolidated decades earlier.
Its roof sagged, ivy covered the stone walls, and most of the stained glass had been replaced with plain boards. Thomas’s ancestors were buried in the small cemetery behind it.
Claire insisted the police should handle the meeting.
Evelyn disagreed.
“If Bellweather sees officers, they disappear.”
“They may kill you.”
“They have had opportunities.”
“That is not reassuring.”
Daniel entered the study wearing a dark coat.
“I’m going with her.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“The caller said alone.”
“He also accused me of arson. I deserve to hear what evidence they fabricated.”
“Or what evidence exists,” Claire said.
Daniel turned on her.
“You think I did it?”
“I think your accounts have been used by people around you.”
Melissa sat near the fireplace, wrapped in silence.
Daniel refused to look at her.
Walter spread an old map across the desk.
“There’s a path from the east cemetery wall. I can approach without being seen from the road.”
Claire looked at Evelyn.
“This is reckless.”
“Yes.”
“You are not usually reckless.”
“No. I am usually obedient to dead men, dishonest relatives, and lawyers who tell me silence is protection.”
Claire flinched.
Evelyn regretted the cruelty but did not withdraw it.
At eleven thirty, Evelyn drove alone toward the chapel.
Daniel, Claire, Walter, and two private investigators followed through separate routes. The police waited farther away, prepared to intervene if Claire sent an emergency signal.
Rain fell softly.
Evelyn parked beside the cemetery gate and walked toward the chapel carrying Rose’s notebook in a waterproof envelope.
The wooden door stood open.
Inside, candles burned along the central aisle.
A man in a gray coat waited near the ruined altar.
It was the man from Brighton station.
“You came.”
“Where is the evidence against Daniel?”
He smiled.
“Always a mother.”
“Always a coward hiding behind threats.”
His smile disappeared.
“Give me the notebook.”
“Who is your employer?”
“Bellweather Strategic.”
“That is a company, not a person.”
“Companies are safer than people.”
“For whom?”
“For everyone who profits.”
Evelyn held up the envelope.
“What does Rose know?”
“Enough to misunderstand.”
“Where is she?”
“Alive.”
The answer struck Evelyn with unexpected force.
“You have her?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
The man glanced toward the chapel door.
A small movement, almost invisible.
Someone else was outside.
Evelyn continued speaking to keep his attention.
“Did Rose contact Bellweather?”
“She contacted many people.”
“Melissa?”
“No.”
“Daniel?”
“No.”
“Claire?”
The man laughed.
“Your lawyer knows more than she admits.”
Evelyn’s grip tightened around the notebook.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Thomas did not create the secondary schedule alone.”
A floorboard creaked behind the altar.
The man turned.
Walter stepped from the shadows holding a metal bar.
The gray-coated man reached inside his coat.
Evelyn threw the envelope toward the opposite wall.
He instinctively followed it with his eyes.
Walter struck his wrist.
A gun fell onto the floor.
Daniel rushed through the side entrance.
He tackled the man before he could reach it.
They crashed into a row of rotten wooden chairs.
Claire entered and activated the emergency signal.
The man fought with surprising strength. He struck Daniel in the face and tried to escape through the vestry.
Walter blocked him.
The first police officers arrived moments later.
They forced the man to the ground and handcuffed him.
Evelyn retrieved Rose’s notebook.
Claire approached the prisoner.
“What is your name?”
He smiled despite the blood on his lip.
“You know my name, Claire.”
Claire went still.
The officer searched his pockets and removed a wallet.
Inside was a solicitor’s identification card.
Nathan Cole.
Claire’s former law partner.
Daniel noticed her reaction.
“You know him?”
Claire looked at Nathan.
“We worked together twenty years ago.”
Nathan laughed.
“We did more than work together.”
Claire turned away.
Evelyn stared at her.
“What is he talking about?”
Nathan looked delighted by the question.
“Ask Claire who drafted Thomas’s secondary schedule.”
Claire’s face had become colorless.
The police pulled Nathan to his feet.
As they led him toward the door, he looked back at Evelyn.
“Rose is not the beneficiary you should fear.”
“Who is?”
May you like
Nathan’s smile widened.
“The one Claire helped Thomas erase.”
