Chapter 6 - THE TRAITOR IN THE HOUSEMargaret Doyle had worked for the Hawthorne family for thirty-one years.
She had raised children who were not hers.
Buried two husbands.
Survived breast cancer.
Once chased an armed burglar out of the pantry with a cast-iron skillet.
Kevin Brooks did not frighten her.
But betrayal did.
At 5:20 a.m., Margaret found Caroline in the staff laundry room.
Caroline had not slept.
Neither had Gabriel.
After the fire, Hawthorne security had locked the estate down.
Every staff member’s access was being reviewed.
Caroline sat alone folding towels because her hands needed something to do.
Margaret closed the door.
“I saw Kevin.”
Caroline looked up.
“Saw him what?”
“Receiving a message.”
Margaret repeated the words exactly.
You did good.
Twenty thousand transferred.
Nobody important did.
Caroline’s fingers went still.
“Are you sure?”
“I may be seventy, but I can still read.”
“Did he see you?”
“No.”
Caroline stood.
“We need Owen.”
Margaret caught her wrist.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know who else is involved.”
Caroline stared.
Margaret lowered her voice.
“This house has become dangerous.”
For years Caroline had thought of Hawthorne estate as powerful.
Intimidating.
Complicated.
Never dangerous to her.
That illusion had burned down with Grandma June’s house.
“Come with me.”
Caroline led Margaret through the service hall toward Gabriel’s office.
Security officers stopped them.
Caroline’s new temporary authority had already been entered into the system.
She hated that she needed it so soon.
Gabriel opened his office door himself.
He wore yesterday’s shirt.
Owen was inside.
So was a man Caroline had only seen twice before.
Marcus Vale.
Gabriel’s chief corporate counsel.
Margaret told them everything.
Owen’s face hardened.
“We pull Kevin now.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
Caroline looked at him.
“He helped someone burn my house.”
“If we arrest him immediately, whoever paid him disappears.”
“He could hurt someone.”
“We watch him.”
Caroline stepped closer.
“My sister was in that house.”
Gabriel met her eyes.
“I know.”
“And you want to use him as bait?”
“I want the person above him.”
“People aren’t chess pieces.”
“No.”
Gabriel’s voice softened.
“But the person who burned your house already thinks we are.”
Caroline turned away.
She hated that he made sense.
Marcus opened a laptop.
“We trace Kevin’s finances. Phones. Access logs. No confrontation.”
Margaret whispered, “And me?”
Owen looked at her.
“You saw nothing.”
Margaret nodded.
She was almost to the door when Gabriel said, “Margaret.”
She turned.
“Thank you.”
Her eyes filled.
“Someone should have stopped Miss Whitmore Thursday night.”
Caroline went still.
Margaret looked at her.
“I was afraid.”
“Margaret—”
“I’m sorry.”
Caroline crossed the room and hugged her.
The elderly woman began crying.
“That room was full of us.”
“I know.”
“And we let her.”
Caroline held her tighter.
“We’re not doing that again.”
By noon, Kevin’s records revealed thirty-eight thousand dollars in unexplained deposits over six months.
His phone had contacted burner numbers.
His access card showed repeated late-night entry into offices he had no business entering.
But Kevin was not the mastermind.
He was frightened.
Careless.
Desperate.
At 1:15 p.m., Caroline watched him spill coffee because his hands shook.
She almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
Then she remembered flames around Leah.
“Caroline.”
Daniel approached.
“Mr. Hawthorne says you’re acting operations director.”
“Apparently.”
Daniel smiled.
“That means I can ask you about allergies again?”
“For one hundred eighty-five thousand dollars a year, I will personally memorize every nut in North America.”
He laughed.
The sound felt good.
Normal.
For several hours Caroline worked.
Really worked.
Not as a housekeeper.
As the role she had been doing unpaid for years.
She rebuilt transportation charts.
Established written dietary protocols.
Moved guest information into a secure database.
Required every department to confirm changes digitally.
No more depending on Caroline’s memory.
By four, the estate already ran better.
Gabriel watched quietly from the second-floor landing.
Owen stood beside him.
“She’s good.”
Gabriel’s eyes stayed on Caroline.
“She’s better than good.”
“You’re staring.”
Gabriel looked at him.
Owen raised both hands.
“I’m old, not blind.”
“Careful.”
“About what? You’re not marrying Evelyn anymore.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“That does not make Caroline available.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
Gabriel looked away.
Owen smiled faintly.
At 7:30, Kevin left the estate.
Security followed.
He drove toward Charleston.
Stopped at a gas station.
Waited.
A black sedan arrived.
Kevin got inside.
Owen listened through a device installed earlier in Kevin’s work bag.
A man’s voice spoke.
“You were told to destroy the box.”
Kevin answered nervously.
“I gave you the address.”
“That wasn’t enough.”
“I’m done.”
A laugh.
“You think you decide that?”
Kevin breathed heavily.
“People almost died.”
“So?”
Caroline, listening beside Owen inside the mobile security room, went cold.
That word again.
So?
The same dismissive cruelty Evelyn had used.
Owen adjusted the audio.
Kevin whispered, “I want out.”
The other man said, “Then give us the girl.”
Gabriel went completely still.
Caroline felt every eye turn toward her.
Kevin replied, “Caroline?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“That’s not your concern.”
“I won’t.”
A pause.
Then a gunshot exploded through the speakers.
Caroline jumped.
Owen swore.
Security radios erupted.
The team moved in.
By the time they reached the gas station, the black sedan was gone.
Kevin lay beside the rear wheel of his own car.
Blood spread across his shirt.
He was alive.
Barely.
Caroline should have stayed back.
She didn’t.
She knelt beside him.
Kevin’s eyes opened.
“Caroline.”
“Don’t talk.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Save your strength.”
“He wanted…”
Kevin coughed blood.
Gabriel crouched nearby.
“Who?”
Kevin looked at him.
“Victor.”
Gabriel’s face changed.
“Victor Hawthorne?”
Kevin shook his head weakly.
“No…”
His eyelids fluttered.
“Not… Victor.”
Caroline leaned closer.
“Who?”
Kevin whispered one final word.
“Evelyn.”
Then he lost consciousness.
At Charleston Memorial Hospital, Kevin underwent emergency surgery.
Caroline paced.
Gabriel stood against the wall.
Neither spoke.
Finally she stopped.
“He said Evelyn.”
“Yes.”
“You told me Victor was involved.”
“Twenty-one years ago.”
“What if Evelyn is working with him?”
“She may be.”
“What does she want from me?”
Gabriel’s voice lowered.
“Your father’s evidence.”
“The box?”
“And whatever is connected to the boat.”
Caroline remembered the tape.
Where Caroline used to hide during thunderstorms.
“Did you find the boat?”
Gabriel nodded.
“It was sold in 2007 to a man named Samuel Pierce.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
Her heart sank.
“But the boat still exists.”
She looked at him.
“Where?”
“Beaufort.”
Ninety miles away.
Caroline grabbed her coat.
Gabriel blocked her.
“No.”
“What?”
“We are not driving into another trap at midnight.”
“They burned my house because of that boat.”
“Exactly.”
“So every hour matters.”
“And keeping you alive matters more.”
Caroline stared.
“You don’t get to order me around.”
Gabriel leaned closer.
“I do when someone just shot a man because he refused to hand you over.”
Her pulse jumped.
Not from fear alone.
His face was close.
Too close.
Neither moved.
Gabriel’s voice became quieter.
“I failed to tell you the truth once.”
Caroline swallowed.
“I will not fail to protect you because I’m afraid you’ll be angry with me.”
“I’m already angry.”
“I can live with that.”
She hated the small part of her that wanted to smile.
Before she could answer, Gabriel’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Uncle Victor.
Everyone froze.
Gabriel answered on speaker.
“Victor.”
His uncle sounded calm.
“I heard there was trouble.”
“How?”
A pause.
“News travels.”
“Not this fast.”
Victor chuckled.
“You sound tired.”
“What do you want?”
“To warn you.”
Caroline’s skin prickled.
“Charles Whitmore called me,” Victor said. “Evelyn has disappeared.”
Gabriel looked at Caroline.
“Since when?”
“About three hours ago.”
“Where?”
“Nobody knows.”
Then Victor added:
“And Gabriel?”
“Yes?”
“If Caroline Hayes is with you, get her somewhere secure.”
Caroline stopped breathing.
Victor continued.
“Because Charles says his daughter is convinced Caroline has something worth killing for.”
The line ended.
Caroline stared at Gabriel.
Then her phone vibrated.
A picture message.
She opened it.
Her sister Leah sat tied to a chair.
A strip of tape covered her mouth.
Evelyn stood behind her.
Smiling.
Below the picture were nine words.
BRING ME THE BOX.
May you like
COME ALONE.
OR SHE DIES.
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