Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN IN THE BLUE SCARFI didn't go alone.
I went with federal agents.
We traced the photograph to an abandoned warehouse.
There was no Jared.
No father.
No woman.
Only a speaker hanging from the ceiling.
It turned on automatically.
A woman's voice filled the warehouse.
“You were never supposed to find the trust.”
I knew that voice.
My mother's.
“Show yourself.”
She laughed.
“You always were your father's daughter.”
Lights flickered on.
A screen descended.
Then the woman appeared.
The blue scarf.
The familiar face.
My mother's face.
But something was wrong.
The image was old.
A recording.
Christopher whispered:
“Deepfake?”
“No,” I said.
“She really looks like your mother.”
Then another image appeared.
A recent photograph.
It showed the same woman.
Older.
Alive.
My blood froze.
A door opened.
Someone stepped into the warehouse.
It was Susan.
My mother-in-law.
She removed her coat.
And underneath it was the blue scarf.
I stared.
Susan smiled.
“You finally understand.”
My entire body went cold.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You impersonated my mother?”
“For years.”
“Why?”
“Because she left something behind.”
“What?”
Susan's smile vanished.
“The location of the original ledger.”
The ledger.
The evidence my father had hidden.
She explained everything.
Susan had worked for Jared for decades.
She had infiltrated my family.
She became a friend of my mother.
Then she learned about the trust.
When my mother disappeared, Susan continued the impersonation.
Letters.
Phone calls.
Old photographs.
She manipulated me from childhood.
My mother had not abandoned me.
She had been trying to protect me.
Susan had been the one watching me.
My father had discovered the truth.
He tried to expose her.
That's why the staged death occurred.
But Susan was too smart.
She infiltrated Jared's family.
She used Dwight.
She used Ashley.
She used everyone.
And the marriage?
Susan had arranged it.
Not Jared.
Not Dwight.
Her.
“You married my son into your trap,” I said.
Susan smiled.
“Dwight was the bait.”
“Then why did he warn me?”
“Because he developed feelings for you.”
I looked away.
Susan continued.
“He was supposed to deliver you once the trust opened.”
“What changed?”
“He fell in love.”
That word felt bitter.
“Then why betray me?”
“He didn't.”
A voice came from behind me.
Dwight.
He stepped into the warehouse.
He looked at Susan.
Then at me.
“I was trying to get you out.”
Susan raised a gun.
“Enough.”
Agents shouted.
She fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Chaos erupted.
I ducked.
Christopher pulled me behind a concrete pillar.
Dwight tackled Susan.
The gun slid across the floor.
Agents rushed forward.
Susan screamed.
“You have no idea what your father buried!”
She was handcuffed.
I stood slowly.
“Where is my father?”
Susan smiled.
“He's not where you think.”
Then she looked at Dwight.
“He knows.”
Dwight's face went pale.
I turned to him.
“Where is my father?”
He whispered:
“The hospital.”
“Which hospital?”
He looked at me.
“The same hospital where Jared almost died.”
I felt my stomach drop.
Because if my father was there...
Then someone had been keeping him alive all these years.
May you like
For a purpose.
And that purpose was about to be revealed.
