Chapter 10 - The Lake House
I didn’t want to believe Daniel.
That was becoming a dangerous habit.
Rachel refused to let me go to the lake house alone. Two unmarked cars followed us north while technicians copied the microSD card.
Halfway there, Rachel’s phone rang.
She put it on speaker.
“We got video,” the technician said. “Dated three days before Anna Hale’s crash.”
My hands tightened on the wheel.
“What’s on it?”
“A meeting. Anna, Daniel Mercer, Claire Nolan, and Marcus Vale.”
“Claire was there?”
“Yes.”
“Send it.”
The video loaded on Rachel’s tablet.
Anna sat at a conference table, alive and furious.
Marcus stood near the window.
Claire was younger, nervous, clutching a file.
Daniel kept saying, “We can fix this.”
Then Anna spoke directly toward the hidden camera.
“If anything happens to me, this is why.”
Marcus lunged for the camera.
The video ended.
Rachel exhaled. “That’s motive, conspiracy evidence, maybe more.”
My throat tightened.
“Why did Claire get close to me later?”
“Maybe guilt. Maybe orders.”
“Maybe both.”
We reached the lake house at 6:40 a.m.
The front door stood open.
Inside, music played softly from an old speaker.
Anna’s favorite song.
I hated whoever had chosen it.
“Police!” Rachel shouted.
No answer.
We moved through the living room.
On the fireplace mantle sat a framed photograph I had never seen.
Claire and Anna together, arms around each other, smiling.
On the back someone had written:
To my brave little sister. Don’t let this place make you hard. - A
I stared at the words.
“Little sister?”
Daniel had never mentioned it.
Claire had never mentioned it.
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
We raised our eyes.
Claire stood at the top of the staircase.
No ropes.
No tape.
No bruise except the one we had seen on video.
May you like
She held a pistol.
And she was pointing it at me.
