Chapter 3 - CAROLINE’S VOICE
Andrew’s thumb hovered over the recording.
Lucinda moved toward him.
“Don’t.”
Andrew looked up.
“Why?”
“Because this is sick.”
“No,” he said. “What’s sick is that my dead wife’s phone was hidden in a room you kept locked.”
Lucinda’s voice sharpened.
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
She didn’t answer.
Andrew pressed PLAY.
Static filled the room.
Then Caroline’s voice.
Breathless.
Terrified.
“Andrew, if you find this…”
Andrew’s knees nearly gave out.
He had not heard her voice in six months.
Alex climbed onto the bed and pulled his rabbit against his chest.
The green ribbon was gone now.
The toy looked strangely naked.
Caroline continued.
“I don’t know how much time I have.”
Lucinda stepped backward.
Elizabeth saw it.
So did Andrew.
Caroline’s voice shook.
“I was wrong about the accident. It wasn’t an accident.”
Andrew whispered, “What?”
Lucinda suddenly lunged for the phone.
Andrew pulled it away.
“Stop!”
“You don’t understand!”
The recording continued.
“Someone has been moving money from the family trust.”
Andrew’s face tightened.
“My signature was copied. The transfers lead to an account I’ve never seen.”
Lucinda shouted, “Turn it off!”
Andrew pushed her away.
Caroline continued.
“I confronted her tonight.”
The recording crackled.
“She knows I found out.”
Andrew stared at Lucinda.
Lucinda’s eyes filled with tears.
“That could mean anyone.”
Then Caroline said the name.
“Lucinda.”
Alex flinched.
Elizabeth’s hand flew to her mouth.
Andrew stopped breathing.
Caroline’s voice became quieter.
“My sister has been stealing from us.”
Andrew looked at Lucinda as though seeing a stranger.
Lucinda shook her head wildly.
“She was sick. She was paranoid.”
The recording went on.
“She says she deserves the money. She says I stole the life that should’ve been hers.”
Lucinda screamed, “Enough!”
She grabbed a lamp from the side table and swung it.
Elizabeth yelled.
Andrew ducked.
The lamp smashed against the wall.
Alex screamed.
Lucinda ran for the door.
Andrew caught her wrist.
She clawed his face.
“Let go!”
“Did you kill Caroline?”
“No!”
“Did you?”
“I said no!”
Alex stood on the bed.
“You pushed her!”
Lucinda froze.
Andrew turned.
Alex was crying now.
“You pushed Mom down.”
Andrew’s face went white.
“Where?”
Alex pointed toward the back of the house.
“The stairs outside.”
The private stone staircase.
The one leading from Caroline’s terrace to the garden.
Police had said Caroline slipped there after drinking wine.
Andrew had accepted it.
There had been rain that night.
No witnesses.
No security footage.
Or so he had been told.
Caroline’s recording suddenly changed.
There was a loud sound.
A door opening.
Then Lucinda’s voice came through the speaker.
Clear.
Close.
“You should have kept your mouth shut.”
Andrew stared at Lucinda.
Lucinda stared at the phone.
Then Caroline screamed.
And behind the scream came a child’s voice.
May you like
Alex.
“Mommy!”
