Chapter 5 - Blood on the Driveway
Ethan reached the front door first.
Officer Ramirez ordered him to stop.
She opened the door with her partner beside her.
Marcus Trent was on one knee near the stone fountain, one hand pressed to the side of his head.
A thin line of blood ran through his gray hair.
His car door stood open behind him.
The rear window had been shattered.
Nobody else was visible on the circular driveway.
Marcus looked up.
"I'm fine."
He was not fine.
But he was conscious.
Officer Ramirez called for medical assistance and asked what happened.
"Someone hit my car from behind at the gate."
Marcus pointed toward the road.
"When I got out, a black SUV came around the side."
"Did you see the driver?"
"No."
He looked toward the villa.
"But I know why they wanted my laptop."
Richard stepped outside.
"What laptop?"
Marcus laughed bitterly.
"The one Daniel told me to destroy."
Ethan felt the ground shift beneath the entire story again.
Marcus had worked for Richard for nearly a decade.
He had the blunt manner of a former detective and the irritating habit of remembering every detail people wished he would forget.
He had been absent that morning because Daniel Mercer had called him before dawn.
Daniel said Richard wanted an off-site audit of the villa security system.
The request sounded normal because Daniel had used the proper authorization phrase.
Marcus drove to the storage facility where old server backups were kept.
When he arrived, he found a written instruction waiting in an envelope.
Delete all backups older than thirty days.
Marcus refused.
"Why?" Richard asked.
"Because you never delete footage during a financial audit."
Marcus looked at Ethan.
"And because the instruction had your digital signature."
Ethan closed his eyes.
Another forged approval.
Marcus continued.
"I called Daniel. He told me you were preparing for litigation and needed old footage removed for privacy reasons."
"That makes no sense," Richard said.
"I know."
Marcus wiped blood from his temple.
"So I copied the oldest backups to a separate drive and left."
Sophia appeared in the doorway behind Richard.
Her face was blank.
Marcus saw her.
His expression sharpened.
"There she is."
Officer Ramirez stepped between them.
"What does that mean?"
Marcus reached into his coat and removed a small key.
"Three weeks ago, I saw Sophia in the server room at two in the morning."
Ethan turned toward her.
She did not deny it immediately.
That was enough.
Marcus said she told him she had heard an alarm and gone to investigate.
He believed her because she was about to become part of the family.
The next morning, he noticed an administrator profile had been duplicated.
It used Ethan's credentials.
Marcus disabled it.
Two days later, it returned.
This time it had a different device identifier.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Richard asked.
Marcus looked ashamed.
"I told Daniel."
Richard's mouth tightened.
"And he told you not to worry."
"He told me Ethan had created the account for Sophia."
Ethan looked at Sophia.
"I didn't."
Marcus nodded.
"I know that now."
The ambulance arrived.
While paramedics checked Marcus, Officer Ramirez asked where the copied drive was.
Marcus pointed toward the damaged car.
"Not in there."
He gave Richard the small key.
"Safe deposit box at First Commonwealth Bank. Box 617."
Sophia's eyes flicked toward the key.
Richard closed his hand around it.
"What's on the backup?"
Marcus hesitated.
"I only watched part of it."
"What part?"
"The library camera from seven weeks ago."
Richard waited.
Marcus looked directly at Ethan.
"Sophia met Daniel here while you and your father were in Boston."
Ethan's face hardened.
Sophia shook her head.
"That's not true."
Marcus ignored her.
"They were in the library for fifty-three minutes."
Richard asked if there was audio.
"Not from that camera."
Marcus paused.
"But there was something else."
He glanced at Sophia.
"Daniel gave her a key."
Ethan frowned.
"A key to what?"
Marcus looked at Richard.
"Your private study."
Richard's private study held the original trust documents, sealed family records, and a handwritten ledger that had belonged to Ethan's late mother.
The room was accessible only by a physical key Richard kept on his person.
Unless someone had made a copy.
Richard turned back toward the house.
He moved faster than Ethan had seen him move in years.
They followed him to the study.
The door was locked.
Richard inserted his key.
It opened.
At first, nothing looked disturbed.
Then Richard walked to the built-in cabinet behind his desk.
The safe door was closed.
He entered the code.
Inside, the shelves were nearly empty.
The original trust documents were gone.
The corporate voting certificates were gone.
His late wife's ledger was gone.
Only one object remained.
A white envelope.
Richard removed it carefully.
His name was written across the front in black ink.
He opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
It showed Sophia sitting at a restaurant table with Daniel Mercer.
Across from them sat a third person.
A woman with silver hair and a familiar smile.
Ethan leaned closer.
"Aunt Vivian?"
Richard did not answer.
May you like
On the back of the photograph, someone had written four words.
SHE STARTED ALL OF IT.
