Chapter 11 - The First Victim
They descended one at a time.
Richard kept the gun.
Arthur carried Daniel’s stolen pistol.
Vanessa followed silently.
Grant and the other officers had disappeared into positions around the mill.
Daniel hoped they were close enough.
The underground room was larger than the tunnels beneath the mansion.
Old filing cabinets lined the walls.
A metal desk sat in the center.
Claire walked toward the far corner.
Richard snapped.
“Stop.”
She turned.
“The files are behind that cabinet.”
Arthur moved forward.
He dragged it aside.
Behind it was another door.
Michael’s key opened that one too.
Inside stood stacks of boxes.
Richard smiled.
“There.”
Claire didn’t move.
Arthur opened the first box.
Documents.
Hundreds.
He laughed.
“You kept everything.”
Claire’s eyes stayed on Richard.
“Yes.”
Daniel noticed something on the floor.
A child’s red shoe.
Small.
Old.
He bent down.
Richard shouted.
“Leave it.”
Daniel picked it up anyway.
“What is this?”
Nobody answered.
Claire closed her eyes.
“Daniel.”
He looked at her.
She was crying.
“What?”
“That belonged to Rachel Vale.”
Vanessa stared.
“My sister?”
Arthur went still.
Vanessa moved toward the shoe.
“Rachel died when we were kids.”
Claire shook her head.
“That’s what your father told you.”
Vanessa looked at Arthur.
“Dad?”
Arthur’s face had changed.
Richard cursed under his breath.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Where is Rachel?”
Arthur said nothing.
“Dad.”
“Vanessa, not now.”
“Where is my sister?”
Claire pointed toward another sealed section of wall.
Vanessa stared at it.
“No.”
Arthur raised his gun.
“Enough.”
Vanessa turned toward him.
“You told me she drowned.”
“It was an accident.”
The words came out too fast.
Vanessa’s face collapsed.
“You said you never found her body.”
Richard said coldly, “Arthur.”
But Vanessa was already moving.
She grabbed a metal pipe.
Slammed it into the wall.
Arthur shouted.
She hit again.
Plaster broke.
A cavity appeared.
Daniel saw fabric.
Small bones.
A silver bracelet.
Vanessa dropped the pipe.
“No…”
She fell to her knees.
Arthur looked away.
Claire whispered:
“Rachel saw them moving money through the mill.”
Vanessa began shaking.
“She was nine.”
Arthur shouted, “She wouldn’t stop talking!”
The room went silent.
Vanessa looked up.
Her face changed.
Every bit of loyalty vanished.
“You killed her.”
Arthur backed away.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“You killed my sister.”
Richard raised his gun toward Vanessa.
“She knows too much now.”
Daniel moved.
Richard fired.
The shot exploded through the room.
Michael tackled Sophie’s grandfather from the side.
Daniel slammed Arthur into the wall.
Claire pulled Vanessa down.
Ethan screamed from upstairs.
Police stormed the stairwell.
For several seconds, the room became chaos.
Then Daniel heard another gunshot.
He turned.
Michael was on the floor.
Blood spread across his shirt.
May you like
Richard stood over him.
And the gun was pointed straight at Daniel.
