PART 3 — The Dead Woman Left One Last Message
Caleb’s face changed as if someone had struck him.
“No,” he whispered.
Katherine nodded, tears running silently down her face. “Half-sister. Same father. Different mother. Beatrice didn’t want anyone to know. She said your family would judge her.”
Grace gripped the wall.
Katherine continued, voice breaking but steady. “She came to me because she was scared. Not of me. Of someone else.”
Caleb shook his head. “You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Katherine walked to her purse and pulled out a small silver flash drive.
“I kept this because Beatrice told me to hide it if anything happened to her.”
Frank stepped forward. “What’s on it?”
Katherine looked at Caleb.
“The truth.”
Robert brought his laptop from the study. They gathered around the kitchen table before sunrise. Grace inserted the drive with trembling fingers.
A video opened.
Beatrice appeared on screen, alive, scared, whispering into the camera.
“If something happens to me, it wasn’t Katherine. She tried to help me.”
Caleb stopped breathing.
Beatrice looked over her shoulder in the video.
“He told me Caleb’s future would be destroyed if I stayed. He said poor girls don’t marry into families like theirs. He said he could make an accident look clean.”
Grace covered her mouth.
Then Beatrice said the name.
“Frank.”
The room went dead silent.
Frank took one slow step backward.
Robert turned toward him. “What did you do?”
Frank’s face lost all warmth. “That girl was going to ruin him.”
Caleb stared at his uncle. “Ruin me?”
“She was pregnant,” Frank snapped. “She was going to trap you. Your mother had plans for you. Your father had plans. I protected this family.”
Grace looked like she might collapse.
Katherine whispered, “Beatrice wasn’t trying to trap him. She was going to tell him after graduation.”
Caleb’s knees weakened.
Frank moved toward the back door.
Robert blocked him.
For one second, no one moved.
Then Frank smiled.
“You think a five-year-old accident can still bury me?”
Katherine lifted her phone.
“It can when you just confessed on a live call to Detective Harris.”
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Frank’s smile disappeared.
Blue and red lights flashed through the kitchen windows.
