Chapter 4 - Six Years AgoThe police arrived before sunrise.
Mason told them about the necklace.
The secret room.
The documents.
Vanessa's disappearance.
He did not tell them everything.
Not yet.
Because one question had become impossible to ignore.
Why had Emma been brought into his house?
Detective Sarah Collins sat across from Mason in the study.
“You hired your maid yourself?”
“No. Vanessa did.”
“When?”
“Eight months ago.”
“Did she know your wife's history?”
“I don't know.”
Detective Collins looked at Emma.
“Why did you accept the job?”
Emma answered calmly.
“Because I needed work.”
The detective waited.
Emma looked away.
“And because I was investigating the Bellmont fire.”
Mason's expression tightened.
“You never told me you were investigating my wife.”
“I wasn't sure she was involved.”
“Until tonight.”
“Yes.”
Detective Collins opened a file.
“We found something interesting.”
She placed a photocopy on the table.
It was an old police report.
The Bellmont fire.
Cause listed as electrical failure.
Three deaths.
But there was a handwritten note on the back.
Possible accelerant.
Emma stared.
“I've never seen that.”
“Because the page was removed from the official file.”
Mason leaned forward.
“By whom?”
“We don't know.”
Detective Collins reached into another folder.
“This came from an evidence archive.”
She pulled out a photograph.
The burned apartment.
The front door had been forced open.
Not broken from the inside.
From the outside.
Emma's face tightened.
“My sister told me someone entered.”
Detective Collins nodded.
“She wasn't imagining it.”
Mason asked, “Why was this never prosecuted?”
“Because the evidence disappeared.”
Emma looked at him.
“Like everything else.”
Mason sat back.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message.
From Vanessa.
Don't trust Emma. She knows what she did.
Mason stared at the screen.
He showed Emma.
She went pale.
“What did she mean?”
“I don't know.”
“Emma.”
“I swear.”
Then another message appeared.
This one contained a photograph.
It showed Emma outside Bellmont Street six years earlier.
She was standing beside Adrian Cross.
Mason looked at her.
Emma's voice barely came out.
“I don't remember that.”
Detective Collins zoomed in.
The photograph had been taken on the day of the fire.
Emma stared at it in horror.
Then she whispered:
“That isn't me.”
Mason looked again.
The woman in the picture had the same face.
Same hair.
Same coat.
But Emma was certain.
“I was in the hospital that day.”
The detective frowned.
“For what?”
Emma hesitated.
“I was injured.”
“How?”
“A hit-and-run.”
Mason suddenly remembered the date.
The Bellmont fire.
The hit-and-run.
Same night.
He stood.
“Someone used your identity.”
Emma stared at the photograph.
Then her eyes moved to the corner.
A car was parked behind her.
Black sedan.
Vanessa's old car.
Mason knew it instantly.
And on the windshield was a small parking sticker.
Whitmore Estate.
Emma whispered, “Your wife was there.”
“No,” Mason said.
His voice was cold.
“Her car was there.”
The detective looked at him.
“Which means someone wanted us to believe Emma was there.”
Emma's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A man's voice said:
“Now you understand why your sister died.”
Emma froze.
“Who are you?”
“You're looking in the wrong direction.”
“Then tell me who did it.”
The caller laughed.
“You already know.”
The line ended.
Emma looked at Mason.
“What did he mean?”
Mason's face had gone white.
Because there was only one person he had not considered.
Someone who had known about the secret room.
Someone who could access the cameras.
Someone who knew about Bellmont.
Someone who had known Emma's name before she ever entered the mansion.
Mason slowly turned toward Detective Collins.
“Check my attorney's records.”
The detective frowned.
“Why?”
“Because six years ago, Thomas was the lawyer who handled Vanessa's private financial accounts.”
Emma stared.
The pieces were beginning to connect.
And somewhere across the city, Thomas Reed received a phone call.
He answered.
A voice said:
“She found the photograph.”
May you like
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Then we're out of time.”
