Chapter 6 - The Web Tightens
At 3:00 AM, the security control room beneath the main house was silent save for the hum of servers and the quiet clicking of Marcus’s keyboard.
Evelyn stood behind him, a cup of black coffee untouched in her hands. On the central monitor, the audio waveform from the hallway microphone near the guest suite played on a loop.
"She thought she could stand on that balcony in the middle of a storm and tell me I didn't belong in this family!"
The sentence repeated over and over, amplified and cleaned of background noise by Marcus’s audio software.
Evelyn set her coffee cup down with a sharp clatter. Her hands were steady, but her heart was pounding with a dark, primal rage.
"She was there," Evelyn whispered. "On the balcony. The night Clara fell."
"The official police report stated that no one was on the balcony with Clara when she fell," Marcus said, pulling up the old case files on a secondary monitor. "Vanessa claimed she was in the kitchen making tea for Julian. Julian backed up her alibi."
"Julian lied," Evelyn said, her voice dripping with disgust. "He lied to protect this monster because he was terrified of her, or because he thought he’d finally get his hands on Clara’s share of the estate."
Marcus typed rapidly, bringing up a series of financial records. "Look at this, Mrs. Vance. Three days before Clara’s accident, a transfer of fifty thousand dollars was made from Vanessa’s personal account to an offshore holding company registered in the Cayman Islands. Yesterday morning, another transfer of twenty-five thousand was made to the same account."
"Find out who owns that account, Marcus," Evelyn ordered, her eyes burning into the screen. "I don't care how much it costs or what laws we have to stretch. I want the name behind that account before the sun rises."
"I'm already on it, ma'am," Marcus replied. "And what about Mr. Julian and Vanessa?"
May you like
Evelyn turned toward the door, her dark blue suit dark in the dim light of the control room.
"Let them think they still have a chance," Evelyn said softly. "Let them stay in the west wing until tomorrow morning. When the trap springs, I want them both inside it."
