Chapter 10: The Name Written in Blood
For several seconds, I couldn't hear anything except the pounding of my own heart.
KILLER.
The word beside my name had been written in Elena's unmistakable handwriting. The same handwriting that filled birthday cards, grocery lists, and the little notes she'd tucked into Lily's lunchbox.
I had spent three years mourning my wife.
Now I was staring at evidence suggesting she had feared me.
“Vincent.”” Daniel's voice sounded distant.
“We need to consider that notebook may have been altered.””
I turned toward him.
“Did you know Elena kept a notebook?””
“No.””
“Did you know she was investigating Richard Whitmore?””
“I knew about the financial transactions. Nothing more.””
“Did you know she visited this estate two days before she died?””
Daniel's silence lasted too long.
“Answer me.””
“No,” he said finally.
“I didn't.””
Detective Reeves approached, his expression grim.
“We've got a problem. Someone just accessed the police evidence database using my credentials.””
I stared at him.
“Your credentials?””
“Yes. A file relating to Elena's autopsy was downloaded six minutes ago.””
“By you?””
“No.””
Daniel stepped forward.
“Then someone has compromised the system.””
Reeves shook his head.
“The login came from inside this perimeter.””
His eyes moved between us.
“Someone on this operation.””
Every person near the vehicles suddenly seemed suspicious.
Marcus reached for his radio.
“Security, verify every officer's identity. Nobody approaches the estate without clearance.””
I took the phone from Reeves and replayed Gabriel's video.
Lily appeared again, holding Elena's notebook.
I paused the image on the page containing the four names.
There was something strange about the ink beside mine. It looked darker than the rest, as if someone had written the word much later.
“Can you enhance this?”” I asked Marcus.
He sent the image to our technical analyst.
While we waited, I stared at the estate.
A memory surfaced.
Elena stood in the library, arguing with my father. Gabriel was beside the fireplace, his hands clenched.
My father slammed a folder onto the desk.
“You have no idea what you've done,” he shouted.
Elena replied, “I know exactly what I've done. I've stopped pretending this family is untouchable.””
Then the memory dissolved.
I grabbed the side of the vehicle.
Daniel noticed.
“What is it?””
“I remember Elena arguing with my father.””
“When?””
“Before she died. Here, at the estate.””
Daniel's face changed.
“Your father had been dead for six years by then.””
I looked at him.
“No. He was alive.””
“Vincent, that's impossible.””
I closed my eyes again.
A sharp pain pulsed behind my forehead.
I remembered a funeral. A closed casket. My mother crying.
But when I tried to picture my father's face in that casket, I couldn't.
Instead, I saw him standing in the library, alive and furious, his silver-haired head turned toward Elena.
Then another image appeared.
A glass of water.
A hand holding it.
A bitter taste.
Darkness.
I stumbled.
Marcus caught me before I hit the ground.
“Get a medic,” Reeves ordered.
“I'm fine,” I snapped.
“You're not fine,” Daniel said.
“You need to stop.””
I pushed myself upright.
“My daughter is inside that house. I'm not stopping.””
The technical analyst called.
Marcus put the call on speaker.
“We enhanced the notebook image,” the analyst said.
“The word beside Vincent's name was added using a different pen. It was written over an earlier word.””
“What word?”” I demanded.
A pause.
“PROTECTOR.””
I stared at the phone.
The analyst continued.
“The original letters are still visible beneath the newer ink. Someone changed the word from protector to killer.””
Daniel exhaled.
“That changes everything.””
“No,” I replied.
“It tells us someone wanted me to believe Elena blamed me.””
Reeves looked toward the estate.
“Or wanted us all to believe it.””
My phone rang.
Gabriel.
I answered immediately.
“Why did you change the notebook?””
A soft laugh came through the speaker.
“Straight to accusations. You haven't changed.””
“You altered Elena's writing.””
“I corrected it.””
“Let Lily go.””
“Bring me the notebook, Vincent.””
“You already have it.””
“Not the one you're holding.””
My blood turned cold.
I looked down at the empty space where I'd expected the notebook to be.
Lily had it.
Gabriel continued, “The original notebook is inside this house. What you saw was a copy.””
“Then why send me the video?””
“Because I wanted you to see what Elena wrote before you destroyed the evidence.””
“I never destroyed anything.””
“Don't you remember?””
The question landed like a blow.
Gabriel's voice softened.
“You were here that night, Vincent. You were standing in the library when Elena fell. You had blood on your hands.””
I could barely breathe.
“Who was bleeding?””
He hung up.
Reeves immediately signaled the tactical team.
“Prepare for entry.””
But before the officers moved, a shot rang out from inside the estate.
Then a child's scream pierced the morning air.
“Daddy!””
Lily.
I ran toward the house.
Marcus shouted behind me, and Reeves ordered the team forward, but I barely heard them.
I reached the eastern service door and found it standing open.
Inside, the corridor smelled of damp stone and old wood.
At the far end, a light flickered.
I heard Gabriel's voice.
“Stay back, Vincent!””
I stopped.
“Let me see my daughter.””
A door opened.
Gabriel stood in the library, one hand gripping Lily's shoulder. In his other hand, he held a small pistol.
Lily's face was wet with tears.
“Daddy, he says you hurt Mommy.””
I took one careful step forward.
“Gabriel, whatever happened that night, Lily has nothing to do with it.””
His eyes were bloodshot.
“You still don't remember.””
“Then tell me.””
He pressed the gun against the table beside Lily.
“You want the truth? Fine.””
He looked directly at me.
“I didn't kill Elena.””
May you like
His voice broke.
“You did.””
