Chapter 11 - THE FALSE CONFESSION
My father was taken into custody.
I couldn't believe it.
After everything we had discovered, after finding Lily and Nathan, after proving Robert and Clara had been manipulating the family, suddenly Dad was being accused of killing Mom.
Michael stayed with us.
He immediately challenged the evidence.
“The weapon was planted.”
The detective shook his head.
“Maybe.”
“But you're arresting him anyway?”
“We have enough probable cause.”
Lily stood beside me.
“This is another trap.”
Michael looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because they want Dad away from the company.”
Nathan nodded.
“And away from Ethan.”
We returned to the house.
The trust documents were missing.
Someone had entered Dad's office.
The blue box was gone.
My mother's letters were gone.
Everything was disappearing.
Maria stood in the doorway.
“I heard someone.”
“Who?”
“Your uncle.”
Robert was supposed to be in jail.
Michael stared at her.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He was here before the police came.”
Michael immediately called the station.
Robert had escaped during transport.
The detective's phone went dead.
Someone inside the police department was helping him.
Then we found a hidden camera in Dad's office.
It showed Robert entering.
He opened the safe.
He removed the blue box.
Then he looked directly into the camera.
“I told you to stop.”
He held up a document.
“This is the original trust.”
He smiled.
“And it names me as successor trustee.”
Michael froze.
“That document is fraudulent.”
Robert's voice continued.
“Ethan's father has been removed.”
The video ended.
Lily looked at me.
“They're going to take everything.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“What can we do?”
“We find the original.”
Nathan looked at me.
“Where?”
I remembered my mother's letter.
The evidence is not in the box.
I looked at Michael.
“The box was a decoy.”
He stared.
“What?”
“My mother knew someone would steal it.”
We searched the house again.
This time, we looked at the places nobody would expect.
My bedroom.
My childhood desk.
The old piano.
Then I found something beneath my mattress.
A small envelope.
Inside was a USB drive.
My mother's handwriting:
If they take the box, use this.
Michael plugged it in.
A video appeared.
My mother sat in front of the camera.
She looked directly at me.
“Ethan, if you are watching this, then they found the box.”
I started crying.
She continued:
“Your father did not kill me.”
Dad's innocence was confirmed.
But then she said something else.
“Your grandfather did.”
I stared.
My grandfather had been dead for years.
My mother explained that he had ordered Robert to arrange her death.
Robert had hired someone.
But he wasn't the one who physically killed her.
The actual killer was a man named Thomas Hale.
My father looked up when Michael told him.
“Thomas Hale.”
The detective standing nearby froze.
Michael noticed.
“You know that name.”
The detective said nothing.
Then he ran.
Nathan chased him.
Security stopped him at the door.
The detective was arrested.
Inside his wallet was a photograph of Robert.
The conspiracy went deeper than we thought.
The police had been compromised.
The company had been compromised.
And someone was still trying to eliminate the heirs.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
A woman's voice whispered:
“Ethan?”
“Yes?”
“I'm your mother.”
I froze.
Lily grabbed my hand.
The voice continued:
“Don't trust anyone.”
Then the call ended.
May you like
I stared at the phone.
My mother had been dead for twelve years.
