Chapter 7 - JudithJudith looked exactly like she had at Evan's funeral.
Perfect hair.
Perfect coat.
Perfect expression.
The same woman who had cried beside me in the rain.
The same woman who had told me she loved me like a daughter.
Now she stood ten feet away holding a gun.
“Put it down,” Megan said.
Judith laughed.
“You always were the difficult one.”
I stepped forward.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you help him?”
Judith's smile disappeared.
“Because I had no choice.”
“Everyone has a choice.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“Not when your child is being held hostage.”
I stared.
“Evan?”
She nodded.
“They threatened him when he was young.”
“Who?”
“The people behind the ledger.”
I looked at Lauren.
She was crying.
Judith continued.
“Eleanor tried to expose them.”
“And you?”
“I tried to protect Evan.”
“By pretending to be his mother?”
“I became the only mother he had left.”
Her voice cracked.
For the first time, I saw something human beneath the coldness.
But I wasn't ready to forgive her.
“What happened to Eleanor?”
Judith looked away.
“She disappeared.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
Too instantly.
I noticed.
“So who did?”
Judith remained silent.
Megan stepped forward.
“Evan?”
Judith closed her eyes.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“You know who was in the coffin?”
I felt the air leave my lungs.
“Who?”
She whispered a name.
“Michael Reed.”
I didn't know the name.
Megan did.
Her face turned pale.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Michael Reed was one of the investors suing Evan.”
Judith nodded.
“He wanted his money back.”
“And Evan killed him?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“Michael agreed to disappear.”
I felt sick.
“He helped Evan fake the death?”
“Yes.”
“Then who killed him?”
Judith's expression changed.
“Someone who wanted the ledger badly enough to kill everyone connected to it.”
She pointed upstairs.
“There is a room there.”
“What's inside?”
“Everything Evan stole.”
“Money?”
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
Judith took a breath.
“Murders.”
The word landed like a stone.
She lowered the gun.
“I came here to warn you.”
“Why now?”
“Because Evan knows you found the trust.”
“What trust?”
Judith's face went white.
“The one your father left you.”
“My father?”
“Yes.”
I stared at her.
“My father died when I was eight.”
Judith nodded.
“He didn't die.”
Silence.
“He disappeared.”
My entire body went numb.
“You’re lying.”
Judith whispered:
“He was one of the names in Eleanor's ledger.”
Then we heard a gunshot outside.
Judith fell backward.
Blood appeared on her shoulder.
Megan screamed.
I turned toward the window.
A figure was standing across the lake.
Watching us.
Evan.
May you like
He raised his gun.
And smiled.
