Chapter 4: Someone Stole the Dead Man’s Final Message
Margaret screamed as darkness swallowed the dining room.
“Don’t move!” Daniel shouted.
A chair crashed. The baby woke and began crying against Elena’s chest.
“Daniel!” Elena called.
“I’m here. Where’s Adrian?”
“I don’t know.”
Robert’s voice came from somewhere near the table. “The storm killed the power.”
“No,” Elena said. “The streetlights are still on.”
Through the window, yellow light washed over the rain.
Daniel switched on his phone flashlight. The beam cut across broken glass, overturned chairs, and Margaret crouching beside the wall.
Adrian was on the floor.
Daniel rushed to him. “Are you hurt?”
Adrian touched the side of his head. Blood coated his fingers. “Someone hit me.”
Elena looked at Robert. “You had the candlestick.”
Robert held up both hands. “I dropped it when the lights went out.”
“Where is it?”
No one answered.
Adrian searched his jacket. His face changed. “The flash drive is gone.”
Daniel stood. “Nobody leaves this room.”
Margaret snapped, “You are not a police officer.”
“No, I’m the man all of you have been lying to.”
Elena handed Noah to Daniel. “Hold him.”
“What are you doing?”
“Checking the security system.”
Robert laughed. “The cameras don’t work without power.”
“The cameras have battery backup,” Elena said. “You bragged about it last Christmas.”
She moved to the small office beside the hall and opened the control panel. A wire hung loose inside.
“Someone disconnected it manually.”
Daniel looked around the room. “Only family knew where that panel was.”
Adrian pushed himself upright. “The message wasn’t the only file on the drive.”
Robert’s expression sharpened. “What else was there?”
Adrian noticed. “You seem interested.”
“I’m interested in ending this circus.”
“My father’s lawyer copied his records. Letters, bank transfers, and a signed statement about the night he came to this house.”
Margaret whispered, “What night?”
Adrian looked at her. “The night Daniel was born.”
Margaret shook her head. “Thomas was never here.”
“Yes, he was. He said Robert met him outside the hospital and threatened him.”
Robert stepped forward. “A dying man invented a story.”
Adrian reached into his wallet and removed a tiny memory card. “Good thing I didn’t bring the only copy.”
Robert lunged again, but Daniel blocked him.
“Enough!”
The baby cried louder. Daniel looked down at Noah and seemed to understand something terrible.
“My whole life,” he said, “you told me family meant loyalty. But what you meant was silence.”
Robert stared at him. “Everything I did was for you.”
“No. Everything you did was to own me.”
Elena returned from the office holding the disconnected camera wire. “There’s another problem.”
“What?”
“The alarm log shows the back door opened during the blackout.”
Daniel looked toward the kitchen.
Adrian checked the window. “There are footprints outside.”
Robert frowned. “Someone came into the house?”
Elena shook her head. “Or someone who was already inside left.”
Margaret suddenly looked toward the empty chair at the far end of the table.
Daniel followed her gaze.
“Where is Aunt Claire?” he asked.
Margaret’s face drained of color.
May you like
From upstairs came the sound of a door slamming.
Then a woman screamed, “He’s got a gun!”
