Chapter 12 – The Recording Emma Left Behind
Grace and Oliver slipped through the old wine cellar entrance while security searched the front of the estate.
Emma Ashford's journal remained hidden beneath Grace's apron.
As she hurried through the cellar, something fell from its back cover.
A tiny memory card.
She stared at it.
She had never noticed it before.
The cellar still contained an old desktop computer used for inventory years earlier.
Miraculously, it still worked.
Grace inserted the card.
A video appeared.
The recording began six years earlier.
Emma Ashford sat alone in her study.
She looked frightened.
"If you're watching this..."
"...I didn't die by accident."
Grace's breath caught.
Emma continued.
"Isabella has been manipulating Nathan's business partners for months."
"She believes Oliver stands between her and the Sterling fortune."
"I've hidden evidence."
"If anything happens to me..."
"...trust Detective Daniel Brooks."
The video ended abruptly.
Another file appeared automatically.
It showed security footage from the night Emma died.
A woman wearing Isabella's exact emerald scarf entered Emma's study.
Minutes later...
The cameras mysteriously went offline.
Grace copied every file onto a flash drive.
"This is enough."
Oliver nodded.
"Let's find my dad."
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Neither of them noticed the small blinking camera hidden above the cellar door.
Someone had just watched everything.
