Chapter 5: The Detective Who Buried the Truth
The Sinclair estate's security system recorded the arrival of Detective Miller at 9:17 that morning.
He had not been scheduled to visit.
He had not called ahead.
And he had entered through the private gate using an access code that had been deactivated more than a year earlier.
Richard watched the footage twice.
The detective stepped out of a gray sedan, checked his watch, and walked directly toward the mansion.
He carried no visible documents.
No official equipment.
Just a black leather folder.
“That's not normal,” Richard said.
Elena stood beside him.
“Why does he have access to the estate?””
Thomas answered before Richard could.
“Because your grandmother trusted him.””
Elena turned.
“Trusted him?””
Thomas nodded.
“Detective Miller investigated several threats against the family before her death. He was one of the few officers she believed she could rely on.””
Richard paused the footage.
“Then why did Daniel tell us to stay away from the police station?””
Thomas looked toward the screen.
“Perhaps because he knows something we don't.””
Elena picked up her coat.
“I'm calling Daniel.””
Richard reached for her arm.
“Wait.””
She stopped.
“I'm not waiting while everyone around me decides what I should know.””
“I understand. But if Daniel is correct, we need to establish who is compromised before making another move.””
Elena looked at the detective's frozen image.
“Then let's find out.””
Richard called a private investigator named Marcus Hale, who had previously worked with the Sinclair estate.
Within thirty minutes, Marcus arrived with a laptop and a folder of printed records.
He was in his early forties, with tired eyes and a habit of tapping his pen against his thumb whenever he was thinking.
“Mrs. Whitmore,” he said, shaking her hand.
“I reviewed the information Richard sent.””
“Can you tell me why Detective Miller was at the police station with Harrison?””
Marcus opened his laptop.
“First, I need to show you something.””
He displayed a series of payment records.
“Three days before your grandmother died, Detective Miller received a transfer from a company called Northbridge Holdings.””
Elena recognized the name.
It was the same company that had transferred money into Chloe's account.
“How much?””
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.””
Richard leaned closer.
“That's not enough to establish corruption.””
Marcus nodded.
“Agreed. But there were four more payments over the following eighteen months.””
He clicked another file.
The screen displayed a photograph of Miller meeting Harrison outside a private restaurant.
Elena stared at it.
“When was this taken?””
“Four months before Harrison married you.””
Her stomach tightened.
Marcus opened another document.
“This is the important part. The detective's name appears on the original accident report concerning Daniel Whitmore.””
Elena looked up.
“Daniel's accident?””
“Yes. The report states that Daniel's vehicle was recovered from a river. But the identification process was unusual.””
“How unusual?””
“There was no body recovered from the vehicle.””
Elena went still.
Richard slowly removed his glasses.
“Then who was buried?””
Marcus shook his head.
“The funeral arrangements were handled privately. The death certificate was issued based on a medical identification report that we cannot currently verify.””
Elena remembered Harrison crying beside the coffin.
She remembered the closed lid.
She remembered asking whether she could see Daniel one last time.
Harrison had told her that the accident had left him unrecognizable.
She had believed him.
Now the memory made her feel sick.
“He lied to me,” she whispered.
Richard placed a hand on the desk.
“Mrs. Whitmore, we need to be careful. We still don't know who was in that coffin.””
Marcus closed his laptop.
“There is another issue.””
He removed a photograph from his folder.
It showed Detective Miller entering a storage facility.
The photograph was dated two days earlier.
“What is that building?”” Elena asked.
“A warehouse registered to Bennett Capital.””
Chloe's family's company.
Marcus pointed to the vehicle parked outside.
“Harrison's car.””
Elena stared at the photograph.
“Why would Harrison be visiting a warehouse belonging to Chloe's company while he was supposedly negotiating a divorce settlement?””
Marcus did not answer.
Instead, he enlarged the photograph.
A second vehicle appeared in the background.
A black SUV.
Its registration number was partially visible.
Richard frowned.
“I know that vehicle.””
Elena turned.
“Whose is it?””
Richard hesitated.
“It belongs to the Sinclair estate.””
Elena's heart began racing.
“My grandmother's company?””
“Yes.””
Marcus checked the registration.
“The vehicle was assigned to the estate's security division. According to the records, it was last used three days before Margaret died.””
Thomas suddenly sat down.
“That's impossible.””
Elena looked at him.
“What?””
Thomas rubbed his forehead.
“I drove that vehicle the night your grandmother died.””
Silence.
Richard slowly turned toward him.
“You told us you were driving her personal car.””
Thomas looked miserable.
“I was instructed to use the security vehicle because her usual driver was unavailable.””
“Who instructed you?””
Thomas did not answer.
Elena stepped closer.
“Mr. Reed, who?””
He finally looked up.
“Your grandmother.””
Elena frowned.
“Why would she send you out in a security vehicle?””
Thomas's eyes filled with tears.
“Because she knew someone was coming to the mansion that night.””
Richard straightened.
“Who?””
Thomas opened his mouth.
But before he could answer, the estate's security alarm sounded.
A housekeeper rushed into the library.
“Mr. Collins! There's someone at the back entrance!””
Marcus closed his laptop.
“Everyone stay here.””
He hurried toward the security room.
Elena followed him.
On the monitor, a man stood outside the rear gate.
He wore a dark baseball cap and a gray jacket.
He looked directly into the camera.
Then he raised a hand.
He was holding a photograph.
Marcus zoomed in.
It was a picture of Elena leaving the Whitmore villa the previous night.
Across the photograph, someone had written three words in red ink.
*STOP DIGGING, ELENA.*
Richard called security.
But the man was already moving away.
A few seconds later, the camera feed went black.
“Someone disabled the external system,” Marcus said.
Thomas looked terrified.
“They know we're here.””
Elena stared at the blank monitor.
“Whoever they are, they don't want me finding out what happened to my grandmother.””
Richard nodded.
“Which means we're getting closer.””
An hour later, Marcus discovered something in the vehicle records.
The black SUV seen outside the Bennett warehouse had been registered under a temporary ownership arrangement.
Its previous owner was a private medical transport company.
The same company that had transported Margaret Sinclair to the hospital on the night she died.
Elena felt her blood turn cold.
“Why would a medical transport company be connected to the security vehicle?””
Marcus checked the dates.
“Because someone used the company to move a vehicle after the accident.””
Richard stared at the document.
“Are you suggesting the accident was staged?””
“I'm suggesting we need the original medical records.””
Elena looked toward Thomas.
“Where did my grandmother die?””
“At St. Catherine's Hospital.””
“Then that's where we're going.””
Richard objected immediately.
“Not without arranging proper legal access.””
“I don't care how long it takes. I want the truth.””
Marcus's phone rang.
He listened for several seconds.
Then his face changed.
“What?””
He turned toward Elena.
“Mrs. Whitmore, I've just received information from a source inside the hospital.””
“What information?””
“The original medical file for Margaret Sinclair has been removed from the archive.””
“By whom?””
Marcus looked at the screen.
“Detective Miller.””
Richard immediately called his contact at the police department.
No answer.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Then Elena's phone rang.
This time, the caller ID displayed a familiar name.
Harrison.
She answered.
“What do you want?””
His voice sounded exhausted.
“Elena, you need to come to the station.””
“Why?””
“Because I know who killed your grandmother.””
Elena froze.
“Tell me.””
“Not over the phone.””
“You have five seconds.””
Harrison inhaled shakily.
“Chloe didn't just help me steal the trust money. She was the person who arranged the hospital records.””
Elena felt her stomach drop.
“Why would she do that?””
“Because she was there the night your grandmother died.””
Elena looked at Richard.
He had heard every word.
Then Harrison whispered:
“And Elena, there's something else. The person who ordered me to marry you wasn't Chloe.””
“Who was it?””
Harrison's voice broke.
“Your grandmother's doctor.””
The call disconnected.
Elena stood motionless.
Margaret's doctor had been a trusted family physician for more than fifteen years.
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His name was Dr. Samuel Carter.
And according to the estate records, he had been the last person to see Margaret alive.
