Chapter 9 - The Mansion Finally Told the TruthPreston chose Hale Manor because he believed everyone would come.
Beatrice collapsed when Agent Grant told her Jacob was missing.
“No. No, no, no.”
She tried calling Preston.
Straight to voicemail.
She called Jacob’s phone.
Off.
Then she looked at me through the interview-room glass.
I had never seen that expression on my sister’s face before.
Pure terror.
I entered despite Agent Grant’s objection.
Beatrice grabbed both my hands.
“Please.”
One word.
That was all.
Years of resentment sat between us.
Birthdays.
Mother’s favoritism.
Cruel jokes.
Emma’s humiliation.
And still, the woman begging me was my sister.
“Did Preston have anywhere private?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“Think.”
“I don’t know.”
“Cabins? Investment properties? Friends?”
“He owns dozens of properties through companies.”
“Anything connected to childhood?”
She stopped.
“What?”
“His father had a hunting lodge near Lake Arden.”
Agent Grant immediately turned to an agent.
“Address.”
Beatrice gave it.
Teams moved.
But the lodge was empty.
Recently used.
Food on the counter.
A child’s juice box.
Tire tracks leading toward a service road.
Preston had anticipated them.
Hours passed.
Then Samuel Pike was arrested at a small private airfield outside Richmond.
He had cash.
A forged passport.
And no intention of protecting Preston.
Within ninety minutes, Pike began bargaining.
He denied involvement in Daniel’s death.
Admitted financial fraud.
Admitted helping Preston forge documents.
Admitted moving stolen Hale Capital money.
Then he said something that shifted the entire search.
“Preston keeps insurance.”
Agent Grant stared at him.
“What insurance?”
“Records. Videos. Evidence against everyone.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“He never trusted anybody. Including me.”
“What about vehicles?”
Pike hesitated.
Agent Grant slid Daniel’s crash photograph toward him.
The gray car.
Pike looked away.
“Whose vehicle?”
“Preston’s.”
“Was he at Daniel Bennett’s accident?”
Pike swallowed.
“I don’t know.”
“Samuel.”
“I told him Daniel was going to authorities.”
“You told him where Daniel was?”
“Yes.”
“What did Preston say?”
“He said he’d handle it.”
My hands clenched beneath the table.
Agent Grant continued.
“Did Preston kill Daniel?”
“I never asked.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
Then Pike looked at me.
“He was afraid of your husband.”
“Why?”
“Daniel had a recording.”
“What recording?”
“Preston admitting everything.”
My heart pounded.
“Where?”
“Daniel said he had backups.”
The flash drive from the cabin contained financial documents, but no obvious recording.
Technicians searched again.
Buried in a corrupted folder, they found an audio file.
Twenty-three minutes.
Daniel’s voice.
Preston’s voice.
At first they argued about money.
Then Daniel accused him of laundering stolen funds.
Preston denied it.
Daniel mentioned federal investigators.
Then Preston said:
“You have a wife and a baby coming. You really want to gamble their safety over money that never belonged to you?”
My skin turned cold.
Daniel answered:
“That sounds like a threat.”
Preston laughed.
“It’s advice.”
The recording ended.
It was not proof of murder.
But it was motive.
And enough to make Preston desperate.
At four that afternoon, Beatrice received a call.
Unknown number.
Agent Grant signaled everyone silent.
Beatrice answered.
“Hello?”
“Mom?”
Jacob.
Beatrice nearly screamed.
“Baby! Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Is Dad there?”
A pause.
Then Preston’s voice entered.
“Hello, Bea.”
She closed her eyes.
“You bring him home.”
“Can’t.”
“He’s nine years old.”
“He’s my son.”
“He’s terrified.”
“So am I.”
Agent Grant quietly activated tracing equipment.
Preston continued.
“You told them about the car.”
Beatrice started crying.
“Preston, listen to me.”
“No. You listen. They want someone to blame for Daniel.”
“Did you kill him?”
Silence.
Every person in the room stopped moving.
Then Preston laughed softly.
“Your sister really has turned you against me.”
“Answer me.”
“You want Jacob safe?”
“Yes.”
“Then Claire gives me Daniel’s files.”
My blood froze.
Beatrice looked at me.
I shook my head—not refusal, but warning.
Agent Grant wrote on a pad:
KEEP HIM TALKING.
Beatrice swallowed.
“Where?”
“I’ll tell you.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“What guarantee do I have?”
“None.”
Then Jacob cried in the background.
“Mommy!”
Beatrice broke.
“Jacob!”
The call disconnected.
The trace narrowed the signal to a rural area spanning thirty miles.
Not enough.
But during the call, one sound had repeated in the background.
A horn.
Low.
Long.
Every ninety seconds.
An analyst identified it.
A freight crossing signal near the old Mercer textile district.
There were only four active crossings in the search area.
Teams moved toward all four.
I remained with Beatrice.
For twenty minutes, neither of us spoke.
Then she whispered, “Why are you helping me?”
I looked at her.
“Because Jacob is innocent.”
She cried harder.
“I wasn’t innocent when Mom hurt Emma.”
“No.”
“I should have stopped her.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid of Mom.”
“So was I.”
“She always made me think if I defended you, she’d turn on me too.”
I believed that.
It didn’t excuse her.
But I understood it.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked toward the window.
“Apologies don’t repair everything.”
“I know.”
“But they can be where repair starts.”
She nodded.
My phone rang.
Agent Grant.
“We found them.”
I stood so fast the chair fell.
“Jacob?”
“Alive.”
Beatrice grabbed my arm.
“And Preston?”
A pause.
“He ran.”
They had found Jacob alone inside an abandoned textile office.
Preston escaped through a rear loading area minutes before agents arrived.
But he left something behind.
A laptop.
On it, investigators found videos proving years of fraud.
Recordings of Pike.
Documents implicating Victor Lang.
And security footage from a private garage dated eight years earlier.
The night Daniel died.
The video showed Preston’s gray Aston Martin entering at 10:36 p.m.
Its front bumper was damaged.
And behind the wheel was Preston.
That was enough to reopen Daniel’s death as a suspected homicide.
But Preston was still free.
At 7:18 p.m., my security detail received an alert.
Someone had breached Hale Manor.
My mother was inside.
May you like
Alone.
And her panic button had just been activated.
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