Chapter 9 - The Second WitnessThe police flooded the mansion.
Officers moved through every hallway.
Weapons raised.
Lights flashing.
Sarah stood in the nursery holding Leo.
Daniel was forced to his knees.
Eleanor was handcuffed.
Margaret watched everything from the doorway.
James sat in an old wooden chair.
For the first time in eleven years, the Walker family was trapped inside the house together.
Except someone was missing.
Nathan.
Michael.
And the mysterious lawyer.
Detective Cole entered the room.
“Sarah Walker?”
She nodded.
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
Sarah looked at Eleanor.
Then Daniel.
Then the old man sitting behind her.
“I can.”
Detective Cole noticed James.
His face changed.
“You're…”
“James Walker.”
Cole took a step backward.
“Mr. Walker died eleven years ago.”
James smiled.
“So did the rest of this family.”
Cole turned to his officer.
“Secure the east wing.”
Sarah noticed something on his jacket.
A small silver pin.
The same symbol as the pendant.
The same as the archive.
Her stomach dropped.
She stepped closer.
“Where did you get that?”
Cole looked down.
“This?”
“Yes.”
“My father gave it to me.”
Sarah stared.
“Who is your father?”
Cole hesitated.
Then Daniel laughed from the hallway.
“You've got to be kidding.”
Detective Cole looked at him.
Daniel said:
“It's him.”
Sarah frowned.
“Who?”
Daniel whispered:
“Eleanor's first investigator.”
Cole's expression hardened.
“That's not who I am.”
Margaret walked forward.
“Then prove it.”
Cole reached inside his coat.
Every officer aimed weapons.
He slowly removed an old photograph.
Sarah stared at it.
The photograph showed three men standing outside Aster House.
James.
A younger Eleanor.
And a fourth man.
The same man Sarah had seen beside her mother in the old recordings.
Her father's lawyer.
But beneath the photograph was a handwritten note.
If Sarah ever returns to the house, protect her from everyone.
Sarah looked at Cole.
“You knew my mother.”
“My father did.”
“Who was your father?”
Cole answered:
“Richard Vale.”
Margaret stepped backward.
“No.”
James looked terrified.
“What?”
Cole turned toward him.
“Your missing son.”
Sarah froze.
“Michael?”
“No.”
He looked at Eleanor.
“Nathan.”
Silence.
Sarah felt the floor disappear beneath her feet.
“You're Nathan's son?”
Cole nodded.
“But Nathan never married.”
“I didn't say he was married.”
Sarah couldn't breathe.
“What does that make me?”
Cole looked at her.
“You were his sister.”
Daniel whispered:
“No.”
Cole continued.
“Half-sister.”
Sarah looked at James.
“What is he saying?”
James closed his eyes.
“Your father wasn't who you believed.”
Sarah's voice cracked.
“Then who was he?”
Nobody answered.
Eleanor finally spoke.
“Richard Vale.”
Sarah stared.
Her father was dead.
A man she had barely remembered.
He was not a Walker.
He was the family's lawyer.
And apparently…
he had fathered her.
Sarah shook her head.
“This doesn't make sense.”
Cole handed her the photograph.
“Your mother discovered that Richard had been secretly helping James escape Eleanor.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor planned to erase the entire Walker bloodline.”
Sarah looked toward Leo.
“And Leo?”
Cole's expression hardened.
“That is the final piece.”
Sarah felt a chill.
“What final piece?”
Cole pointed at Leo.
“He isn't just an heir.”
“Then what?”
“He has something Eleanor has been searching for since the night your mother died.”
Sarah looked at the baby.
Leo's tiny hand slowly opened.
Something shiny was inside his fist.
A small key.
Sarah stared.
The same engraving.
Cole whispered:
“It's the access key to the original archive.”
Sarah tightened her arms around the baby.
“Where?”
Cole looked toward the floor.
“Under Aster House.”
Daniel suddenly screamed from the hallway.
“YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S UNDER THERE!”
Every officer turned.
Daniel's face had gone white.
“Don't open it!”
Sarah looked at him.
“Why?”
May you like
Daniel stared at her.
“Because that's where Eleanor put the bodies.”
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