Chapter 8 - THE LAKE HOUSE -
The lake house stood at the end of an abandoned road surrounded by pine trees.
Nathan insisted that we contact the sheriff before approaching the property.
I agreed, but I knew my mother’s influence reached far beyond the company board.
If we waited too long, the ledger might disappear.
Sophie had found a location record on her father’s phone.
He had visited the lake house at two in the morning.
A transfer from Meridian Wellness had followed less than an hour later.
Elena remained at a secure medical residence arranged by Dr. Ramirez.
Two officers stayed outside her room.
I hated leaving her, but she reminded me why we were fighting.
“Bring back the truth,” she said.
Nathan, Mara, and I reached the lake house shortly before sunset.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, the rooms smelled of dust and gasoline.
Someone had cleared my father’s old study.
Empty shelves lined the walls.
Papers had been burned inside the fireplace.
The silver basin sat on his desk.
Its surface had been polished.
The engraved crest gleamed beneath the fading light.
I turned it over.
The keyhole remained intact.
“Do you have the key?” Mara asked.
“No.”
Nathan searched the drawers.
I examined the frame of my father’s wedding photograph.
He had been holding the basin in the picture.
On the back, someone had written a date.
June 14.
My parents’ anniversary.
I entered 0614 into the small mechanical lock.
Nothing happened.
Then I remembered my father’s habit of reversing important numbers.
I tried 4160.
The base of the basin clicked open.
Inside was a thin leather ledger wrapped in plastic.
Mara opened it carefully.
Every page contained dates, account numbers, and handwritten initials.
V.B.
L.B.
Dr. H.
The final initials belonged to Dr. Howard Mercer, our family physician.
My father had documented payments made to Mercer only weeks before his death.
Nathan photographed each page.
Then Mara reached the last entry.
Arthur had written one final sentence.
If anything happens to me, test the medication in the blue bottle.
A floorboard creaked behind us.
Lucas stood in the doorway holding a metal fuel can.
His face looked pale and desperate.
“You should have stayed in Singapore.”
I stepped between him and the desk.
“Where is Rosa?”
“She made a mistake.”
“What did you do to her?”
“Nothing permanent.”
Nathan reached for his phone.
Lucas poured gasoline across the doorway.
“You won’t leave with that ledger.”
He struck a match.
Before he could drop it, a gunshot shattered the window beside him.
Lucas froze.
Sheriff’s deputies emerged from the trees.
May you like
He dropped the match, but the burning tip landed in the spilled gasoline.
Flames rushed across the floor.
