Chapter 7 - The Dead Woman in the BasementAlexander moved instinctively in front of Grace.
Alexander remained outside her room until morning.
Lily slept curled beside her mother.
When Grace woke, she found Alexander standing near the window.
“You should go home.”
“This is home.”
She smiled faintly.
“I meant sleep.”
“I tried.”
“Couldn’t?”
“No.”
Grace looked toward Lily.
Neither spoke for several seconds.
Then Alexander asked the question.
“What murder?”
Grace closed her eyes.
“Seven months ago, I saw someone die beneath your house.”
Alexander remained still.
“Who?”
“Richard Blackwood.”
Alexander’s breath stopped.
“My uncle?”
“Yes.”
Richard had been missing for nearly forty years.
Grace explained.
Seven months earlier she had noticed Marcus entering the old cellar at night.
She assumed he was hiding theft.
Instead she discovered the passage.
She followed him.
Marcus met a man in the archive corridor.
Richard Blackwood.
Seventy-one years old.
Alive.
Grace recognized him from family photographs.
Richard had returned secretly after decades overseas.
He wanted Theodore’s archive.
He believed it contained evidence proving Charles stole his inheritance.
Marcus was helping him because Richard claimed to know the truth about Rebecca Vale.
“Then Sebastian arrived,” Grace said.
Alexander sat.
“His son?”
Grace nodded.
“They argued.”
“What about?”
“Richard wanted Sebastian to stop.”
Grace looked ashamed.
“Sebastian had been blackmailing board members, manipulating company contracts, bribing employees. Richard said he wanted his legal share, not revenge.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
“And Sebastian?”
“He said the Blackwoods deserved destruction.”
“What happened?”
“Evelyn appeared.”
Alexander felt no surprise now.
“Richard knew her?”
“He recognized her immediately.”
Grace swallowed.
“He called her Catherine’s sister.”
Then the room changed.
Richard told Evelyn Catherine was alive.
Evelyn called him a liar.
Richard laughed.
He said Catherine had never stopped communicating with him.
That she had manipulated everyone.
Including Evelyn.
Grace had hidden behind stacked crates.
She heard enough to realize the family history everyone believed was false.
“Then Sebastian pulled a gun.”
Grace’s hands trembled.
“Richard said, ‘You’re exactly like me.’”
Alexander waited.
“Sebastian shot him.”
Silence filled the hospital room.
“Once?”
“Twice.”
Alexander stared at the floor.
“Where’s the body?”
“They moved it.”
“Marcus?”
“No.”
Grace shook her head.
“Marcus came after. When he saw Richard dead, he realized Sebastian had lied to him.”
“About Rebecca.”
“Yes.”
Marcus had believed Richard murdered his mother.
In reality, Rebecca escaped.
Theodore helped her disappear.
Sebastian had known Rebecca was alive for years.
He withheld that truth to control Marcus.
“Why didn’t Marcus go to police?”
“Because he had committed crimes for Sebastian.”
Grace looked toward Alexander.
“He helped install the surveillance system. He helped forge signatures. He thought if he stopped, he would go to prison.”
“He probably will.”
“He knows.”
Alexander walked toward the window.
“And you?”
“I copied the recordings.”
“Where?”
Grace looked at Lily.
“Somewhere only she could lead you.”
The crack in the marble.
Bracelet.
Clock.
Grace had prepared a trail because she suspected she was being watched.
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“I didn’t know if you were involved.”
Alexander flinched.
Grace saw it.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
He turned.
“You were protecting Lily.”
Grace’s eyes filled.
“I should have trusted you.”
“You survived.”
“That doesn’t mean I chose correctly.”
Alexander sat closer.
“Grace.”
She looked at him.
“You kept your daughter alive while people with money, weapons, and decades of secrets were hunting you. You chose well enough.”
The words broke something inside her.
She cried quietly.
Alexander did not touch her until she reached for his hand.
Then he held it.
The moment lasted only seconds.
But Lily opened one eye.
She smiled.
Neither adult noticed.
By afternoon Grace gave detectives a complete statement.
Sebastian refused to talk.
Evelyn remained missing.
Then forensic analysis of the underground room delivered a surprise.
Richard’s blood was there.
And another person’s fingerprints.
Catherine Blackwood.
Sebastian’s supposedly dead mother.
Recent prints.
She had been beneath the mansion within the last year.
Detective Hayes looked at Grace.
“You said Richard claimed Catherine manipulated Evelyn.”
Grace nodded.
“What if he was telling the truth?”
Alexander thought of everything that had happened.
Catherine survived the fire.
Hid for eighteen years.
Allowed her sister to believe she needed protection.
Stayed away from her son.
Then reappeared around the same time Richard returned.
Someone had been moving all sides against one another.
Charles against Richard.
Marcus against Alexander.
Evelyn against the Blackwoods.
Sebastian against everyone.
Maybe Catherine had never been the victim.
Or perhaps she had become something else after decades of fear.
That evening, Grace returned to Blackwood Mansion with police protection.
Lily refused to let go of her.
Alexander ordered the secret passage sealed.
Grace stopped him.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s one room we haven’t opened.”
She led Alexander underground.
Past Theodore’s archive.
Past the surveillance chamber.
To a narrow corridor concealed behind wooden shelves.
At the end stood a small iron door.
No keyhole.
A handprint scanner had been installed recently.
Grace stared at it.
“Sebastian came here after killing Richard.”
“How did he open it?”
“He didn’t.”
Alexander examined the scanner.
“Who did?”
Grace looked at him.
“A woman.”
His skin chilled.
“Catherine?”
“I never saw her face.”
“How do you know it was a woman?”
“She spoke.”
“What did she say?”
Grace hesitated.
“She told Sebastian, ‘You were never supposed to kill your father.’”
Alexander stared at the sealed room.
Then suddenly the scanner beeped.
Green.
Neither had touched it.
Locks disengaged.
The door opened by itself.
Lights came on inside.
A woman sat behind a desk.
Alive.
Elegant.
Silver-haired.
Around sixty.
She looked at Alexander with calm blue eyes.
“Hello, Alexander.”
Grace stepped backward.
Alexander knew exactly who she was from old photographs.
Catherine Blackwood.
May you like
She smiled.
“I wondered how long it would take you to find me.”
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