Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN IN THE GARDEN HOUSE
Adrian ordered security to search every building on the estate.
The main house.
Garage.
Pool house.
Storage rooms.
Guest cottages.
Nothing.
Then Noah tugged Clara’s sleeve.
“Mia likes the garden house.”
Everyone turned.
“What garden house?” Moreno asked.
Noah pointed toward the woods.
An old groundskeeper’s cottage stood beyond the formal gardens.
It hadn’t been used in years.
They found Mia inside.
Alive.
Terrified.
And holding a flash drive.
She had been hiding.
Not imprisoned.
Waiting.
“My mother told me if anything ever happened to her, I should find Clara Bennett.”
Clara stared at her.
“Your mother knew my name?”
Mia nodded.
“She knew everything.”
Evelyn Grant had survived the crash.
Barely.
She spent her final months collecting evidence.
She died two years later from complications.
Before she died, she gave Mia copies of hospital records, bank transfers, recordings, and photographs.
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“I didn’t know who you were.”
Mia looked at Clara’s maid uniform.
“Until three days ago.”
“What happened three days ago?”
“I found your employee file.”
Mia turned toward Adrian.
“Mr. Blackwood, your wife discovered what I was doing.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“She threatened you?”
“She offered me half a million dollars to disappear.”
Moreno asked the obvious question.
“Did you record it?”
Mia held up the flash drive.
“Yes.”
Vanessa was arrested that evening.
But the biggest shock came later.
Mia’s recording included Vanessa speaking to someone else.
A man.
His voice was clear.
And Adrian recognized it immediately.
His older brother.
Charles Blackwood.
Clara stared at Adrian.
“Your brother knew?”
May you like
Adrian didn’t answer.
Because the recording already had.
