Chapter 9 - The Watcher Outside
Daniel grabbed Emily’s phone.
“When was this taken?”
Grant examined the photograph.
“Tonight.”
Daniel looked toward the dark windows.
“Someone is still on the property.”
Grant activated the estate lockdown.
Exterior gates sealed.
Security lights flooded the lawns.
Officers searched the gardens, garages, and service roads.
No one was found.
Emily stood away from the windows.
She hated feeling afraid.
Vanessa had already humiliated her publicly.
Now somebody wanted her frightened inside the very house where she worked.
Daniel approached.
“You should leave the estate.”
Emily looked at him.
“And go where?”
“A hotel with security.”
“So they can follow me there?”
Daniel did not answer.
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
“This isn’t about pride.”
“Exactly.”
She looked toward the security screen.
“This is about my father.”
Daniel understood.
Emily continued.
“He spent years being afraid because nobody believed him.”
Her voice steadied.
“I’m not doing the same thing.”
Grant returned.
“We found footprints near the east garden wall.”
Daniel turned.
“Did they get out?”
“Probably.”
“How?”
“There’s an old drainage access below the wall.”
Daniel frowned.
“That was sealed.”
“Someone reopened it.”
Grant showed them a photograph.
Fresh tool marks surrounded the metal cover.
Daniel looked exhausted.
“Marcus?”
“Likely.”
Grant’s phone rang again.
This time the call came from the police.
Marcus Reed’s vehicle had been discovered near an industrial district.
Inside were gloves, copied estate keys, and one of Vanessa’s burner phones.
But Marcus was missing.
Emily asked the obvious question.
“What was on the phone?”
Grant looked at her.
“Messages.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“Between Marcus and Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
The messages showed careful planning.
Vanessa had ordered Marcus to disable the cameras near Daniel’s study on several nights.
She had instructed him to shut down the mansion’s electricity immediately after the necklace confrontation if Daniel asked for security footage.
That meant Vanessa had expected Daniel might expose her.
She had prepared an escape.
Emily looked at one message.
PLAN B IF CARTER GIRL TALKS.
Her stomach tightened.
“What is Plan B?”
Grant scrolled.
The next messages had been deleted.
Daniel slammed his palm against the desk.
“They were planning something against Emily.”
Margaret entered carrying a small envelope.
“I found this outside my bedroom.”
Grant took it carefully.
Inside was a photocopy.
It showed a handwritten letter from Robert Carter.
Emily recognized her father’s writing.
WHERE DID YOU GET THIS?
Daniel looked at his mother.
Margaret shook her head.
“It was under my door.”
Grant read the letter.
Robert described keeping evidence somewhere Victor would never search.
Somewhere connected to his daughter.
Emily stared at the page.
“My father hid evidence with me?”
Grant read the final sentence aloud.
“Emily will always carry the key, even if she never knows it.”
Emily looked confused.
“I don’t have any key.”
Margaret’s eyes suddenly widened.
“The necklace.”
Emily instinctively touched her throat.
She was not wearing one.
Margaret stepped closer.
“The necklace your father gave you.”
Emily froze.
She had almost forgotten it.
A simple silver heart pendant.
Her father had given it to her on her tenth birthday.
She still kept it in a jewelry box in the staff cottage.
Daniel immediately called security.
They hurried across the property.
Emily unlocked her room.
The jewelry box sat on the dresser.
May you like
She opened it.
The silver heart was gone.
