Chapter 10 - The Second Wound
The autopsy report listed one fatal stab wound.
That had always been the story.
Rachel said it was false.
There had been two wounds.
The first was shallow.
Mine.
The second entered at nearly the same location and reached Dad’s heart.
Detective Harris altered the report.
I stared at Rebecca.
“Can that be proven?”
“Maybe.”
She immediately requested the archived photographs.
The original medical examiner had died years ago.
But backup images still existed in county storage.
Two hours later, we found them.
The close-up photographs showed two wound tracks.
Rebecca nearly shouted.
“The prosecution never disclosed these.”
The current district attorney looked horrified.
If true, it was a massive Brady violation.
Mom’s conviction had been built on incomplete evidence.
I could barely breathe.
“Why would Harris kill Dad?”
Rachel answered.
“Money.”
Dad had discovered Harris was on Victor’s payroll.
Victor protested.
“I paid him to protect Rachel’s identity.”
Rachel laughed bitterly.
“You paid him to bury evidence.”
Victor looked trapped.
Finally he admitted it.
Harris had helped conceal Rachel and Noah.
When Dad threatened to expose everything, Harris panicked.
That night, Victor confronted Dad.
They fought.
I stumbled downstairs.
The accidental first stabbing occurred.
Victor froze.
Then Harris arrived.
“What was he doing there?”
Victor swallowed.
“I called him.”
I stared.
“You called a corrupt detective to our house.”
“I needed him to calm Michael down.”
Instead, Harris saw an opportunity.
Dad was injured.
I was drugged and confused.
Mom was upstairs.
Harris pushed Victor out of the kitchen.
Then finished what I had accidentally started.
“He stabbed Dad again?”
Victor nodded.
I covered my mouth.
My father had still been alive.
The detective who later investigated his murder had killed him.
Harris wiped the knife.
Then Victor took it.
He wore gloves.
He entered Mom’s bedroom.
He placed the knife beneath her bed.
“But Mom’s robe?”
I asked.
Victor looked ashamed.
“Michael’s blood was already on Caroline.”
“How?”
“She tried to save him.”
The pieces snapped together.
Mom found Dad.
She knelt beside him.
Blood transferred onto her robe.
Harris then arrested her.
Victor lied.
The prosecution built the rest.
Rebecca whispered.
“Caroline knew Claire caused the first injury.”
Rachel nodded.
“She believed exposing the truth would destroy her daughter.”
“So she let herself be convicted.”
“Yes.”
I felt something inside me collapse.
Mom had spent six years on death row protecting me from something I had not even done.
Not really.
Not fatally.
I stood.
“I need to see her.”
Rebecca nodded.
Then a detective’s phone rang.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He turned toward us.
“Thomas Harris was found.”
My heart pounded.
“Where?”
The detective swallowed.
“In Victor Hayes’s house.”
Victor stared.
“What?”
May you like
The detective continued.
“And he’s dead.”
