Chapter 10 - What Linda Saw
My mother witnessed Rachel Quinn's death.
Not the crash.
The moment before it.
Margaret told us the story inside a secured police facility.
No Christmas music.
No candles.
No perfect table.
Just fluorescent lights and bad coffee.
"Linda was doing payroll work," Margaret said. "She was leaving late. She saw Gideon force Rachel into a car."
My hands clenched.
"What did she do?"
"She called Daniel."
Ethan's father.
"Why him?"
"Because Daniel was already collecting evidence."
Ethan looked at Victor.
"Then why didn't Dad stop it?"
"He tried," Victor said.
Margaret continued.
"Rachel died that night. Gideon told us it was an accident. Linda didn't believe him."
"Neither did you?"
"No."
"Yet you stayed quiet."
She met my eyes.
"Yes."
I wanted to hate her cleanly.
But confession complicates hatred.
It doesn't erase anything.
It just removes the comfort of pretending monsters never know they're wrong.
Victor asked, "Why did Linda wait nearly thirty years?"
"She didn't."
Margaret slid a paper across the table.
A copy of a letter.
Dated 1999.
Addressed to the district attorney.
Never delivered.
"I intercepted it."
I stared at her.
"You stole my mother's letter?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Charles told me Ethan would be taken from me if the scandal broke."
Ethan laughed in disbelief.
"So you protected me by protecting murderers."
Tears filled her eyes.
"I told myself that."
He stood up and walked out.
I wanted to follow.
But I needed the rest.
"Why did Mom contact Victor eight months ago?"
Margaret looked at me.
"Because she found out Gideon restarted the trials."
"Where?"
"A company called Northstar Wellness."
Victor swore.
I knew the name.
Everyone did.
A national chain of luxury preventive medicine clinics.
Celebrity clients.
Corporate executives.
Thousands of members.
Gideon had hidden in plain sight.
Victor's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then said, "Send it."
A video arrived.
Security footage from a Northstar clinic.
My mother walking into the building the day before she died.
She carried a blue folder.
Two minutes later, Gideon entered.
He left thirty-seven minutes after her.
My mother left ten minutes later.
The next morning, she fell down her stairs.
I stared at the screen.
"That's not proof he killed her."
"No," Victor said.
Then another file arrived.
Traffic footage.
A black sedan outside my mother's house at 1:13 a.m.
Driver identified.
Martin Keene.
Former Cole Medical security chief.
The same man working with Charles.
My heart pounded.
Victor said, "Now we have a chain."
My phone rang.
Unknown caller.
I answered.
A woman's voice whispered:
"Claire? My name is Anna Reed. I was in the Northstar trial."
I sat forward.
"Where are you?"
"Please don't trace this."
"Anna—"
"Gideon knows you found the old files."
"What files?"
"The patient list."
I looked at Margaret.
"Where is it?"
Anna began crying.
"Your mother hid it."
"Where?"
A pause.
"Inside Cole Manor."
My blood turned cold.
The mansion.
May you like
Then Anna whispered:
"And Gideon is already on his way there.
