Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN IN THE CHURCHI didn't tell the police.
I didn't tell Daniel, because I didn't know whether he was alive.
I didn't tell Margaret.
I took Savannah.
The old church had been abandoned for years.
Snow covered the steps.
I opened the door.
“Mom?”
No answer.
Then lights came on.
My mother stood at the altar.
Alive.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably her.
My knees almost gave out.
“Mom?”
She looked at me.
Tears ran down her face.
“Clara.”
I ran toward her.
Then stopped.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
She cried.
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
She looked at Savannah.
“From your father.”
I shook my head.
“Dad didn't kill you.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
My mother swallowed.
“I did.”
I stared.
“What?”
“I faked my own death.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel was about to expose the family.”
“What family?”
“Yours.”
She stepped closer.
“The Walker family business wasn't what your father told you.”
“What was it?”
“Money laundering.”
I felt sick.
“Through what?”
“Construction contracts.”
I looked at Savannah.
“She knew.”
My mother nodded.
“She discovered the records.”
“What records?”
“The ones your father was hiding.”
My mother handed me a folder.
Inside were hundreds of transactions.
Bribes.
Fake companies.
Offshore accounts.
Judges.
Police.
Politicians.
My father's signature appeared everywhere.
“He built an empire using stolen money.”
I stared at her.
“Then why was I the heir?”
“Because your grandfather wanted to stop him.”
“And Zoe?”
My mother looked down.
“That's why everything had to remain hidden.”
She touched the folder.
“Your grandfather created a second trust.”
“For Zoe.”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel?”
“He funded it.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew one day the truth would surface.”
I felt tears in my eyes.
“Why didn't you come back?”
My mother looked terrified.
“Because your father was not the most dangerous person.”
I waited.
“There was someone above him.”
“Who?”
She whispered:
“Judge Richard Hale.”
I recognized the name.
He had been the judge overseeing my parents' property dispute years ago.
My mother continued.
“He controlled the people protecting your father's empire.”
Suddenly the church doors slammed shut.
We all turned.
Someone had locked us inside.
A man's voice echoed from the back.
“You shouldn't have come.”
My mother froze.
Savannah grabbed my hand.
The lights went out.
Footsteps approached.
Then a gunshot rang through the church.
My mother screamed.
I felt warm liquid splash across my sleeve.
I looked down.
Blood.
But it wasn't mine.
It was Savannah's.
She collapsed into my arms.
And from the darkness came a voice I knew.
May you like
My father's.
“You should have stayed with me, Clara.”
