CHAPTER 7 — The Man Who Guarded the Door
Thomas arrived at the facility with his injured shoulder bandaged beneath his coat.
Detective Bennett met him in the lobby.
“You have thirty seconds to explain why Victor owns a property registered under your identity.”
Thomas placed his phone on the table.
“I’ve been investigating Victor for eighteen months.”
He was not merely a private security director.
He had once worked as a federal financial crimes investigator.
After his brother died in what police called a boating accident, Thomas discovered that Victor had been laundering money through the nonprofit where his brother worked.
Thomas took the job at the Carter estate to gather evidence.
“The house was purchased using my stolen credentials,” he said. “Victor knew I was investigating him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Emily asked.
“I didn’t know who I could trust.”
Elena’s eyes hardened.
“You let him live beside her while knowing he was dangerous.”
“I knew he was stealing money. I didn’t know he was planning murder.”
Thomas showed them files copied from Victor’s computer.
The trust contained a hidden clause.
If both Whitmore daughters died without surviving children, all assets would pass to Emily’s legal spouse.
But if Emily’s baby was born alive, the child would inherit her share.
Victor did not only need Emily dead.
He needed the baby dead as well.
Margaret closed her eyes.
“This was always about the bloodline.”
Federal agents searched the property registered under Thomas’s name.
Inside, they found photographs of Emily, Elena, Margaret, and Harold.
Victor had been tracking all four of them.
They also found a wall covered with newspaper clippings about Elena’s life.
Victor had known exactly where she was for more than a decade.
One photograph showed Elena at twenty-two, working at a bookkeeping firm in Chicago.
Elena pulled it from the wall.
“I remember that job.”
Thomas examined the image.
“The firm belonged to Victor.”
Emily looked at her sister.
Elena said nothing.
“Did you work for him before coming to the mansion?” Emily asked.
Elena’s silence answered the question.
Detective Bennett stepped closer.
“What did you do for Victor?”
“I discovered his hidden accounts,” Elena said. “I copied some of the records.”
“Where are they?”
“Hidden.”
Victor had confronted her after the files disappeared. Elena escaped and changed her name.
Years later, she entered the Carter mansion as a maid to search for proof that Victor had killed their father.
“You knew what he was capable of,” Emily said. “You still didn’t warn me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The night before your wedding.”
Emily remembered receiving an anonymous note.
Do not marry Victor Carter. He knows what happened to your father.
She had assumed it came from a jealous former girlfriend.
Before Emily could respond, alarms sounded throughout the facility.
A nurse ran into the lobby.
“Margaret Whitmore is missing.”
They rushed upstairs.
Margaret’s room was empty.
On the bed lay a black envelope addressed to Emily.
Inside was a photograph of Margaret sitting beside Victor in a moving car.
May you like
On the back, Victor had written:
Bring Elena and the trust documents to the Carter mansion at midnight. Come without police, or you lose your mother again.
