Chapter 5 - THE LAKE HOUSE
I nearly screamed.
In the recording, Dad closed Arthur’s door.
“You’ve been making trouble.”
Arthur stood.
“I’ve been keeping my promise.”
“To Evelyn?”
Dad’s face changed.
“She’s dead.”
“Then why are you afraid of her?”
Dad pulled the gun from his jacket.
The video ended.
I didn’t sleep.
The next morning, I called the only person I trusted.
My mother’s younger brother, Uncle James.
He lived two towns away.
Vanessa hated him.
That made me trust him more.
“Clara?”
His voice became worried immediately.
“Are you okay?”
“I need to go to Mom’s lake house.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“Arthur told me to.”
Another pause.
“I’ll pick you up.”
We didn’t make it out quietly.
Vanessa saw us at the front gate.
“Where are you taking her?”
James stepped between us.
“For ice cream.”
“She has plans.”
“I changed them.”
Dad appeared behind Vanessa.
“James.”
“Daniel.”
Their faces turned hard.
Finally Dad smiled.
“Bring her back by six.”
The lake house had been abandoned since Mom vanished.
Dust covered everything.
James unlocked the door.
I ran to Mom’s old bedroom.
Nothing.
Then I remembered something.
When I was little, Mom used to hide birthday presents under a loose floorboard near the fireplace.
I lifted it.
Inside was a metal box.
James stared.
“What the hell?”
The box contained documents.
Bank records.
Photographs of Dad with Vanessa.
A flash drive.
And a letter addressed to me.
My hands shook as I opened it.
My sweet Clara,
If you are reading this, something happened to me.
I stopped breathing.
James sat beside me.
I continued.
Your father does not know I discovered everything.
Vanessa is involved.
If I disappear, do not believe the first story you are told.
At the bottom were four words.
Arthur knows the plan.
Then tires crunched outside.
James looked through the window.
Three black SUVs had pulled into the driveway.
May you like
Vanessa stepped out of the first one.
And beside her stood my father.
