Chapter 10 - THE MIDPOINT REVELATION
The cottage was small but solid. Stone walls. Thick doors. Heavy locks. David built a fire in the hearth while Margaret locked every window and checked every corner.
Once they were settled, Margaret sat them both near the fire. She pulled out the list and spread it on the wooden table.
“We have been thinking about this wrong,” she said. “We assumed the conspirators were working down the list. But what if they are working up?”
David frowned. “Up?”
“Starting from the bottom,” Margaret said. “Sophie is seventh. Which means she is last. But what if… whoever wrote this list… put themselves at number seven?”
Sophie looked up. “Me?”
Margaret shook her head.
“Not you. Someone else. Someone who used your name as a cover. So when we looked at the list… we would never suspect the final name was actually the mastermind.”
Margaret leaned forward.
“What if the list is not a target list at all? What if it is an elimination order? And the last person standing… wins everything.”
David stared.
“Julian was number three,” Margaret said. “Which means he was meant to be eliminated early. Rachel was never on the list at all. She was just a tool. Which leaves three names—Edward, Calloway, Arthur. And one of them… is the true mastermind.”
May you like
Margaret tapped the paper.
“Who benefits most if all of us die? Edward inherits. But Calloway controls the documents.
