Chapter 13 - THE WOMAN IN THE WATER
Nathaniel was transported to the hospital under armed guard.
His confession began before doctors finished treating the burns on his hands.
He admitted helping Renata lure Evelyn to the boathouse.
Renata had placed sedatives in Evelyn’s wine.
Nathaniel confronted Evelyn about the black ledger and demanded the evidence she had gathered.
Evelyn refused.
During the struggle, she struck Renata with the wineglass and ran toward the dock.
Lily had followed her mother from the house.
Nathaniel wore the red coat and carried the umbrella.
Renata caught Evelyn at the end of the dock.
She pushed her into the lake.
Evelyn surfaced and grabbed the edge.
Nathaniel stood over her.
He could have pulled her out.
Instead, he pressed his shoe against her hand.
Renata held Evelyn’s head beneath the water.
Lily witnessed everything from behind a stack of boat covers.
When Nathaniel realized the child was there, he moved toward her.
Evelyn used the last of her strength to pull Renata into the water.
The distraction allowed Lily to escape.
Harris arrived moments later.
He found Renata climbing onto the dock.
Nathaniel told him Evelyn had attacked them and fallen.
Harris saw Lily running toward the house.
He also saw Evelyn’s blood on the dock.
He knew the story was false.
Still, he removed the security footage.
Voss later bribed the medical examiner and altered the toxicology report to make the sedatives appear prescribed.
Renata attended Evelyn’s funeral wearing black and stood beside Grant as though she had lost a sister.
Six months later, she began convincing him that Lily needed a mother.
The confession gave police enough evidence to charge Renata, Nathaniel, and Voss with murder and conspiracy.
It did not explain everything.
Nathaniel insisted the plan had come from someone else.
Before Evelyn died, she had arranged a meeting with federal investigators.
Only three people knew the date.
Evelyn.
Nathaniel.
And Grant’s father, Henry Whitmore.
Henry had supposedly died five months before Evelyn.
Nathaniel claimed that was a lie.
“Our father never died.”
Grant stared through the hospital glass.
“I saw his body.”
“You saw a sealed coffin.”
“The hospital confirmed his death.”
“A hospital director whose photograph was hanging beneath your estate.”
Nathaniel leaned closer.
“Father created a new identity and disappeared.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn discovered he had been selling government secrets through Whitmore Global.”
Grant shook his head.
“He would be almost eighty years old.”
“He is.”
Nathaniel’s voice dropped.
“And he has been watching this entire time.”
Detective Cole entered the room carrying an evidence bag.
Inside was the phone taken from Voss.
A message had arrived after his arrest.
It contained a photograph of Lily standing outside the mountain lodge.
The picture had been taken after Renata was captured.
Someone else had been watching from the trees.
May you like
Beneath the photograph were six words.
THE CHILD STILL KNOWS TOO MUCH.
