Chapter Twelve Emily's Secret
Later that afternoon, Detective Brooks received an unexpected phone call.
A nurse from Richmond General Hospital.
"I think you should see this."
Within an hour, Brooks, Richard, and Julian arrived at the hospital archives.
The elderly nurse unlocked a storage cabinet.
"I almost threw this away years ago."
She handed Brooks a patient file.
Name:
Emily Carson
Date:
Three weeks before Sienna died.
Diagnosis:
Obsessive Delusional Disorder
Julian stared at the page.
"No..."
The nurse sighed.
"She believed people were stealing everyone she loved."
Brooks flipped through the records.
Therapy notes.
Psychiatric evaluations.
Medication history.
One sentence stood out.
"Patient displays dangerous fixation on Julian Harper."
Julian felt the room spin.
"Fixation?"
The nurse nodded.
"She talked about you constantly."
"She believed Sienna was standing between the two of you."
Richard looked at Brooks.
"So Emily wasn't protecting Julian."
Brooks answered quietly.
"She wanted to own him."
That evening, another discovery surfaced.
George had searched through old volunteer photographs.
In one picture...
Emily stood several feet behind Sienna and Julian.
She wasn't smiling.
She was staring only at Julian.
The expression on her face sent chills through everyone.
Not admiration.
Obsession.
Meanwhile...
Across town...
Emily sat alone inside a rented cabin surrounded by dense woods.
The walls were covered with photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Julian.
Sienna.
Audrey.
The Harper family.
Some pictures had been taken only days earlier.
Emily carefully pinned a new wedding photograph onto the wall.
Then drew a thick red line through Audrey's face.
She smiled.
"So close."
"So very close."
Her phone buzzed.
A text message appeared.
They found the autopsy.
Emily's smile slowly disappeared.
She whispered,
"Then it's time."
She opened a locked drawer.
Inside rested a revolver.
Beneath it...
A second envelope.
Across the front, written in Sienna's handwriting, were three words:
Julian, I'm Sorry.
Emily stared at it for a long moment.
Then laughed softly.
"You'll never read this."
Outside...
May you like
Rain began falling over Oakhaven Springs.
Far away, Audrey drove alone through the storm, unaware that someone was following her headlights from a distance.
