Chapter 9 - THE AUNT WHO HAD BEEN WATCHINGAdrian finally revealed the identity of Rebecca Sloan.
Caroline Vale.
His aunt.
The woman who had sat quietly at the dinner table while he attacked me.
She had spent ten years undercover inside the Caldwell family.
She had married Thomas Vale to access the police records he had used to bury Lydia's disappearance.
Caroline had collected everything.
Including video from the dinner.
The recording showed Adrian raising the plate.
It showed Eleanor watching.
It showed the family choosing silence.
But Caroline had one final recording.
She had hidden it beneath a bridge my father designed.
Inside the container was a photograph of Caroline with my father.
And a recording from the night he died.
Eleanor's voice.
“Has the driver been paid?”
Thomas answered.
“Yes.”
“And the engineer?”
“He won't reach the state board.”
“What about the daughter?”
“She knows nothing.”
“Keep it that way.”
My father's death had been murder.
Not an accident.
Not bad luck.
Murder.
I stood beneath that bridge holding the recording and felt sixteen years of guilt finally break apart.
Then the phone inside the container rang.
Eleanor.
“You always were curious, Claire.”
“Where is Caroline?”
“With me.”
“What do you want?”
“The encryption key.”
She gave me one hour.
Then the call ended.
We traced the signal to an abandoned warehouse.
Inside, Caroline was tied to a chair.
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Julian stood beside her with a gun.
And Eleanor was waiting.
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