Chapter 10 - The First Fall
Samuel agreed to meet.
Not at the country house.
Not in Manhattan.
He chose a twenty-four-hour diner off Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania.
Adrian wanted security everywhere.
Samuel refused.
So Clara went inside first.
She wore borrowed jeans and Evelyn’s gray coat.
Samuel sat in the corner booth.
Sixty years old.
Unshaven.
Thin.
He looked exhausted before Clara even sat down.
“You’re the maid?”
“Yes.”
He looked at her hands.
“You caught her?”
Clara nodded.
“Why?”
“Because she was going to hit Mrs. Beaumont.”
Samuel gave a bitter smile.
“Most people look away.”
“I almost did.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
He stirred coffee he was not drinking.
“That’s how it starts.”
Clara leaned forward.
“What starts?”
“Thinking you can stop people like them.”
“You tried?”
Samuel laughed without humor.
“I tried to tell the truth.”
He looked toward the parking lot.
Adrian waited inside a vehicle across the street.
Samuel knew.
He had agreed.
But he was still afraid.
“The first fall happened in 2019.”
“Who fell?”
“A woman named Rachel Cole.”
Clara froze.
Vanessa’s former personal assistant.
She vaguely remembered a news article.
Rachel had suffered a spinal injury after falling from a hotel balcony.
Police called it an accident.
“She worked for Vanessa.”
“For four years.”
“What happened?”
“She found something.”
“What?”
Samuel looked around again.
“A payment ledger connected to Sterling Health.”
“She told me because we were dating.”
Clara’s eyes widened.
“Rachel was your girlfriend?”
“For almost two years.”
Samuel looked down.
“She wanted to go to the authorities.”
“Vanessa found out.”
“Three days later, Rachel fell.”
“Did you see it?”
“No.”
“But Rachel survived.”
Clara waited.
Samuel’s face changed.
“She woke up in the hospital for twelve minutes.”
“What did she say?”
“One sentence.”
He looked directly at Clara.
“Vanessa pushed me.”
Clara’s skin went cold.
“Did you tell police?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“They said Rachel was medicated and confused.”
“Then?”
“She developed complications.”
“And died two days later.”
Clara looked down at her hands.
Samuel continued.
“I kept investigating.”
“That’s why I took the job at the Beaumont estate.”
“You knew Vanessa was getting close to Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“What did you find?”
“Victor wanted Beaumont Medical.”
“And Vanessa was helping him.”
Samuel nodded.
“Then Evelyn fell.”
“Did you see it?”
“I saw Vanessa grab her arm at the top of the steps.”
Clara’s heart hammered.
“Then what?”
“I heard Evelyn say, ‘Get away from me.’”
“I turned because I was carrying tools.”
“When I looked back, Evelyn was already falling.”
“Did Vanessa push her?”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“I didn’t see the exact contact.”
Clara felt disappointment.
“But.”
Samuel leaned forward.
“Vanessa looked down at her.”
“She didn’t scream.”
“She didn’t call for help.”
“She walked downstairs.”
“And she took something from Evelyn’s hand.”
“What?”
“A key.”
Clara’s eyes widened.
“The brass key.”
Samuel nodded.
“Later that night, Vanessa realized it was gone.”
“How?”
“I stole it back.”
Clara stared.
“You put it in Evelyn’s coat?”
“Yes.”
That explained everything.
Samuel had saved the key.
Then Vanessa had framed him with stolen jewelry and removed him before he could speak.
“Why didn’t you tell Adrian?”
“I tried.”
Samuel pulled an old phone from his pocket.
“I sent him seventeen messages.”
Adrian had never received them.
“Who had access to his communications?”
Samuel gave her a look.
“Vanessa.”
Clara’s stomach turned.
Samuel slid the phone across the table.
“There’s one more thing.”
A photograph appeared.
Vanessa stood in a parking garage with a man Clara recognized immediately.
Calvin Reed.
The timestamp was the morning after Evelyn’s fall.
Samuel swiped.
Another photograph.
Victor Sterling.
Calvin.
Vanessa.
Together.
Then an audio file.
Samuel pressed play.
Vanessa’s voice filled the booth.
“If she remembers, we have a bigger problem than Charles’s files.”
Victor answered.
“Then make sure she doesn’t remember.”
The recording ended.
Clara stared at Samuel.
“Why have you kept this for eight months?”
Samuel’s eyes filled.
“Because everyone I tried to protect got hurt.”
He pointed through the window toward Adrian’s vehicle.
“If he wants this, he needs to understand something.”
“What?”
Samuel’s voice lowered.
“Vanessa is dangerous.”
Clara nodded.
“I know.”
“No.”
Samuel shook his head.
“You don’t.”
“She isn’t trying to take over the Beaumont family anymore.”
“She’s trying to survive it.”
Clara frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Samuel looked behind her.
His face suddenly changed.
“Get down.”
The diner window shattered.
Clara dropped beneath the table.
People screamed.
A bullet had struck the wall above Samuel’s booth.
May you like
And whoever had fired it had just proven that Victor Sterling’s secrets were worth killing for.
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