Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW THE TRUTH
At 6:40 that morning, Baldric's phone rang again.
The number was unknown.
He answered without saying a word.
A woman's voice came through.
“Evelyn Cross.”
Baldric's expression changed immediately.
His wife's letter.
The name she had written before her death.
The woman she had instructed him to find if she ever died under suspicious circumstances.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere they can't find me.”
Baldric walked toward the window.
“Who are you hiding from?”
The woman hesitated.
“Your brother.”
Baldric closed his eyes.
So it was true.
Elias wasn't simply alive.
He was still moving in the shadows.
And someone had been hiding the truth for twenty-five years.
“How long have you known?”
“Long enough.”
“Then tell me what happened to my wife.”
The woman became silent.
When she finally answered, her voice was trembling.
“Your wife discovered what the Vances were doing.”
Baldric's hand tightened around the phone.
“What were they doing?”
“They weren't trying to steal your company.”
Baldric frowned.
“Then what did they want?”
Evelyn answered quietly.
“Your family.”
Baldric looked toward the photograph of Arianne on his desk.
Evelyn continued.
“Your wife discovered money being moved through accounts connected to your trusts. She discovered documents had been altered. Medical records had been accessed. Someone had been monitoring your family for years.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“I know who helped them.”
Baldric's eyes hardened.
“Who?”
Before she could answer, a loud crash came through the phone.
Evelyn gasped.
Someone was inside wherever she was hiding.
“Evelyn?”
Her breathing became frantic.
“They found me.”
“Where are you?”
She didn't answer.
“Evelyn!”
Another sound.
A door slammed.
Then the line went dead.
Baldric immediately called back.
Nothing.
The number had already been disconnected.
Charles entered the study moments later.
“What happened?”
Baldric looked at him.
His face was colder than Charles had ever seen.
“They found her.”
“Who?”
Baldric grabbed his coat.
“The people we've been searching for.”
May you like
He walked toward the door.
“And this time, we're not waiting for them to come to us.”
