Chapter 8 - THE MAN WITH THE GUN
No one moved.
Mr. Hale stood in the moonlight, gun steady. His expression was calm. Unbothered.
“Sarah,” he said. “I told you to wait. I told you not to handle this alone.”
Sarah strained against Julian’s grip. “They had the letter! I had no choice!”
“Quiet.” Hale stepped closer. He looked at me. “Give me the letter, Mia.”
My heart felt like it would burst through my chest. “You… you helped her?”
“Sarah helped me,” he corrected. “Your mother’s death… that was my plan. Sarah merely arranged the paperwork.”
I stared. “Why?”
“Money. Power. Position. Your father stood in the way. And your mother… she would never have let him do what needed to be done.” He extended his hand. “The letter, Mia. Now.”
Julian slowly stood. He kept himself between Hale and me.
“Let us walk away,” Julian said to Hale. “We forget this happened. You disappear.”
Hale smiled thinly. “There is no walking away. Not when you know everything.”
“Then what?” Claire asked, her voice trembling. “You kill us all?”
“Only until the letter is destroyed.” Hale’s gaze fixed on my pocket. “Mia. I will not ask again.”
I gripped the letter. My mind raced. If I gave it to him… everything my mother wrote would be lost. Sarah and Hale would go free. And my mother’s death would remain a secret forever.
If I did not give it to him… he might hurt Claire. Julian. Me.
But then I remembered.
I did not have only the letter.
I had my watch.
And it had been recording.
“Mia,” Hale warned.
“Take it,” I said.
I pulled the letter from my pocket and held it out.
Hale stepped forward. He reached for it.
And in that moment, I tapped my watch.
I pressed play.
Sarah’s voice filled the clearing. Clear. Loud. Unmistakable.
*“I was the one who helped your mother die… Vanessa found records… I made certain she would never speak.”*
Hale froze.
Then my voice: “Why did you kill my mother?”
Then Sarah again: “I didn’t want to. But your father was going to ruin me… so I acted first.”
Hale slowly turned to Sarah.
“You told me you handled it,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. “You told her nothing.”
“I didn’t know she was recording!” Sarah cried.
Hale looked at me. His eyes went to the watch on my wrist.
“Turn it off,” he said.
“It is already sent,” I lied. “To Sarah’s office. If we do not return… the police will find it at dawn.”
Hale hesitated. He looked at the watch. At the letter still in my hand. At Julian and Claire, standing ready to fight.
And then sirens wailed in the distance.
Coming closer. Fast.
Hale looked toward the road. Then back at me. His face twisted with rage.
“You have made a dangerous enemy,” he said.
“Let us go,” I said. “And we will say nothing until we know everything.”
The sirens grew louder. Red and blue lights flashed through the trees.
Hale looked at Sarah. “Say nothing. Do not confess. I will handle this.”
“But—”
“Not one word.”
He backed away into the shadows. By the time the first police car skidded to a halt near the boathouse, he was gone.
Officers rushed toward us. Flashlights blinded me. Voices called out.
Sarah stood alone, head bowed. Defeated.
My father ran from the second car. He reached me first, dropping to his knees. He grabbed my shoulders, searching my face.
“Mia! Are you hurt?”
I looked past him. At Sarah. At the darkness where Hale had stood.
“He was there,” I said. “Mr. Hale. He is the one.”
My father’s face went pale. He stood and looked around. “Where is he?”
“He ran,” Claire said. “But Sarah confessed. It is all on the recording.”
My father turned to Sarah. “Is this true?”
Sarah looked at the ground. She said nothing.
“Sarah!”
She lifted her head. Tears streamed down her face. “I am sorry, Adrian. I needed the money. And Hale… he knew everything. He threatened me. He said if I did not help him… he would destroy me.”
“Where is Hale now?” my father demanded.
“I do not know. He always works alone. He has contacts. Places to hide. He will not be easy to find.”
My father stood. He looked at me, at the letter still clutched in my hand, at the watch on my wrist.
“You recorded everything?” he asked quietly.
I nodded.
He pulled me close. He held me tight. “You are incredibly brave. But from this moment on… you stay where I can see you. Hale is still out there. And he will not stop until he silences us.”
I rested my head against his chest. The letter was safe. The recording was safe. But one truth remained.
Two people had killed my mother.
One was in custody.
May you like
The other was free.
And he knew exactly where we lived.
