Chapter 7 - THE WITNESS
We found Evelyn in Virginia.
She lived under another name.
When she saw me, she cried.
“You look just like your mother.”
“I need the truth.”
She invited us inside.
Evelyn explained everything.
Victor Hale had manipulated the foundation network.
He used Ferguson Holdings to move money.
He bribed officials.
He threatened witnesses.
And when my mother discovered the truth, Victor tried to kill her.
“She survived the first attempt,” Evelyn said.
I stared at her.
“The second?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Your mother knew she wouldn't survive.”
She had hidden evidence throughout the foundation.
But there was one final file.
A physical ledger.
The ledger was inside the Ferguson estate.
The same locked room.
The room they had emptied.
“Where?”
Evelyn smiled sadly.
“Your mother trusted you to find it.”
I understood.
The room wasn't the secret.
The room was the distraction.
I remembered the chair.
The camera.
The bookshelf.
I remembered one loose floorboard.
We returned that night.
This time, we found the ledger.
But before we could leave, the lights went out.
Someone locked the doors.
Smoke began filling the hallway.
Abigail grabbed my arm.
“Mom!”
“Stay behind me.”
We moved through the darkness.
Then Nicholas appeared.
He had come back.
He smashed a window.
“Get out!”
We escaped moments before the building caught fire.
From across the street, I watched flames consume the library.
Someone wanted the evidence destroyed.
May you like
But they had forgotten one thing.
We already had copies.
