Chapter 11 - Back to the Christmas Table
We returned to Cole Manor at 2:08 in the morning.
The Christmas dinner was still there.
Half-empty glasses.
Cold food.
Broken crystal on the floor.
My blood dried on one napkin.
It felt like walking back into the scene of a life I had already left.
Police searched room by room.
No Gideon.
No Charles.
Victor looked at me.
"Where would your mother hide something in this house?"
"I don't know."
Margaret did.
"The chapel."
Ethan, who had barely spoken to her since the confession, turned.
"What chapel?"
She pointed toward the east wing.
"Your grandmother had one built before you were born."
I'd lived around this family for five years and never heard of it.
That seemed normal now.
The chapel was behind a paneled door in the library.
Dust covered the pews.
A small wooden altar stood beneath a stained-glass window.
Margaret walked to it.
"Linda came here once."
"When?" I asked.
"The Christmas before she died."
My heart jumped.
"Why?"
"She said she wanted to see where Rachel used to pray."
Rachel.
The dead employee had come here too.
I searched the altar.
Nothing.
Ethan examined the pews.
Victor checked the walls.
Then I saw a small carved snowflake beneath the altar rail.
My mother loved snowflakes.
She put them on everything.
I pressed it.
A panel opened.
Inside was a blue folder.
For one second, nobody moved.
Then every light in the chapel went out.
A voice came from the darkness.
"Thank you, Claire."
Gideon.
Ethan grabbed me and pulled me down.
A flashlight snapped on.
Charles stood near the doorway with a gun.
Gideon stepped behind him.
Margaret whispered, "Charles."
Her brother looked exhausted.
"Give us the folder."
Victor moved slowly.
"Gideon, this ends tonight."
Gideon smiled.
"It ended thirty years ago. You're just late."
I held the folder against my chest.
"You killed my mother."
"No."
"Martin did?"
"No."
Confusion hit me.
Gideon stepped closer.
"Your mother wasn't murdered."
I almost laughed.
"Then what?"
"She was pushed."
My stomach dropped.
"By who?"
He looked at Margaret.
Every person turned.
Margaret shook her head.
"No."
Gideon smiled.
"Tell her."
Margaret's lips trembled.
"Claire—"
"No."
"Your mother came here the night before she died."
I could barely breathe.
"Why?"
"To confront me."
"About what?"
Margaret closed her eyes.
"About you."
I stared at her.
"What about me?"
She opened her eyes.
May you like
And whispered:
"She found out you were never supposed to marry Ethan.
