Chapter 9 - Andrew’s Missing Night
Detective Chen raised her weapon.
“Drop the gun.”
Patricia pressed the pistol against Ethan’s ribs.
“Lower yours first.”
Ethan’s face was swollen.
The blood in the car had clearly come from him.
Detective Chen slowly lowered her weapon.
The tactical officers did the same.
Patricia looked at Andrew.
“Come upstairs.”
He did not move.
“What did you do to me?”
She smiled.
“I protected you from a memory that would have ruined your life.”
Thomas shouted from behind the gate.
“You drugged him.”
Andrew looked at his mother.
Patricia’s smile vanished.
“You were emotional after your father died.”
“You kept asking questions.”
“So Gregory gave you something to help you sleep.”
“For seven years?”
“Only when necessary.”
Andrew pressed both hands against his head.
Images began flashing through him.
Smoke.
A metal gate.
His father screaming.
Patricia’s hand holding his shoulder.
A young Thomas Mason bleeding against the wall.
Andrew staggered.
“I saw him.”
Clara watched horror spread across his face.
“You knew.”
“No.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“I remembered pieces.”
“You told me they were nightmares.”
Patricia shrugged.
“Memories are only useful when they serve a purpose.”
Andrew looked at Clara.
“I swear I did not know.”
She believed his terror.
But belief did not erase what he had done at the wedding.
Or the forged document.
Or every time he had chosen silence.
Patricia pointed toward the stairs.
“Come to me.”
Andrew looked up.
“No.”
Her face tightened.
“I am your mother.”
“You are a criminal.”
The words seemed to wound her more than anything else had.
Patricia raised the gun toward Clara.
“You would choose her?”
Andrew stepped in front of Clara.
“I choose the truth.”
Patricia fired.
The shot exploded through the underground chamber.
Andrew fell backward.
Clara screamed.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Detective Chen fired toward the railing.
Patricia ducked.
Ethan threw himself against her.
The gun slid across the walkway.
Patricia struck him with the metal deed box.
He collapsed.
Clara dropped beside Andrew.
“Stay with me.”
He grimaced.
“I am sorry.”
“Do not speak.”
“I should have defended you.”
“Andrew.”
“At the wedding.”
His hand closed around hers.
“I knew my mother was cruel.”
“I kept pretending she was only difficult.”
Clara pressed her hand against the wound.
“You can apologize after you survive.”
Above them, Patricia ran toward the rear tunnel.
Detective Chen chased her.
Mr. Bell appeared from the stairwell with additional officers.
They broke the lock on Thomas’s cage.
Clara helped her father step out.
His legs nearly failed beneath him.
He looked at Andrew bleeding on the floor.
“His father tried to save me.”
Clara turned.
Thomas continued.
“Robert Whitlock discovered Patricia’s scheme.”
“She set the fire.”
“Andrew’s father did not die by accident.”
A second gunshot sounded from inside the tunnel.
Then Detective Chen shouted.
Clara looked toward the darkness.
Patricia emerged slowly.
Her hands were raised.
Behind her stood a man Clara had never seen before.
He held a gun against Patricia’s head.
Thomas went pale.
“Victor.”
Clara looked at her father.
“Who is he?”
Thomas’s voice broke.
“My brother.”
May you like
The stranger smiled at Clara.
“And the real owner of half this estate.”
