The Night at the Blue House
Chapter 08 - The Night at the Blue House
I put the flash drive in my pocket.
Then I told Lucy to stay behind me.
Richard entered using his own key.
Two men waited outside.
He looked around the kitchen and sighed.
"Of course Caroline brought you here."
"How did you know?"
He ignored the question.
"Give me whatever you found."
I laughed once.
"Eleven years, Richard."
His face tightened.
"Don't turn this into something it isn't."
"What is it?"
"A misunderstanding."
"A forged signature is a misunderstanding?"
That stopped him.
For the first time, he realized how much I knew.
He stepped closer.
"You were never interested in the company."
"That doesn't give you the right to steal it."
"I saved it."
"You liquidated it."
"It was failing."
"After you took control."
His voice rose.
Behind me, Lucy began to cry.
I immediately stepped back.
That sound changed something inside me.
This wasn't about winning an argument.
It was about getting a child out safely.
I told Richard the police were coming.
They weren't.
But he believed me.
Before leaving, he looked at Lucy.
"You belong with me."
She moved closer to me.
"No, I don't."
His face went pale.
I had prosecuted men who couldn't tolerate losing control.
I recognized the look.
Richard walked away.
Only after his car disappeared did I breathe.
At home, I opened the flash drive.
There were hundreds of files.
Bank statements.
Contracts.
Emails.
But one folder had my name.
Inside was a video.
Caroline appeared on the screen.
Older than the photograph.
Tired.
Terrified.
But alive.
"If you're watching this, Evie, I'm sorry."
I covered my mouth.
No one had called me Evie except Caroline.
"I should have come to you sooner," she continued. "But Richard convinced me you knew everything. He showed me documents with your signature. I thought you chose him."
My eyes filled with tears.
"He told you I stole from Mom. He told me you helped him take the company."
Two sisters.
Two lies.
One man between us.
Then Caroline said something unexpected.
"I'm not running anymore. Tomorrow I'm going to the police."
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The video was dated four days earlier.
The night before Caroline disappeared.
