Chapter 3 - The Secret Margaret Hid
The police did not arrest Richard that day.
That frustrated Chloe.
She wanted handcuffs.
She wanted answers.
Instead, Detective Reed told her to remain silent.
“Do not confront him,” he warned.
“He'll know I went to the bank.”
“Probably.”
“He'll come after me.”
“That's why we're watching.”
Chloe left through the rear entrance.
Her phone rang before she reached the sidewalk.
Dad.
She stared at the screen.
Then answered.
“Where are you?”
“At work.”
“That's funny.”
“What?”
“I stopped by your apartment.”
Chloe froze.
“You what?”
Richard laughed softly.
“You weren't home.”
“I told you I was working.”
“You've never been good at lying.”
Chloe looked around.
Cars passed.
A bus hissed at the curb.
She lowered her voice.
“What do you want?”
“The blue book.”
“I don't have it.”
“Chloe.”
His voice changed.
“Don't make this difficult.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“You always were stubborn.”
The call ended.
Chloe immediately called Detective Reed.
When she returned home that evening, her apartment door was unlocked.
She stood in the hallway.
Her heart hammered.
She pushed it open.
Nothing appeared missing.
Her television was still there.
Her laptop.
Her jewelry.
Then she noticed her grandmother's photograph lying face down.
Chloe picked it up.
Behind the frame was a message written in black marker.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT IT IN THE GRAVE.
She called the police.
That night, an officer stayed outside her building.
Chloe couldn't sleep.
At 3:14 a.m., she heard a sound.
A faint metallic scrape.
She sat up.
Another sound.
The apartment door handle moved.
Chloe grabbed her phone.
The handle moved again.
Then stopped.
She called Detective Reed.
Minutes later, officers entered the hallway.
Nobody was there.
But the lock had been tampered with.
The next morning, Daniel Alvarez called.
“We found the red stamp.”
“Where?”
“On a document connected to your grandmother's trust.”
“What's in it?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Something that concerns your birth.”
Chloe drove to the bank.
Daniel placed a sealed envelope in front of her.
“Your grandmother left this with instructions that it could only be opened after her death.”
Chloe tore it open.
Inside was a letter.
My dearest Chloe,
If you're reading this, Richard has failed to destroy the truth.
You were never supposed to know what happened.
When your mother died, Richard tried to convince me to sell the property I owned. I refused.
The property was placed into a trust for you.
Chloe's eyes widened.
Property.
She continued.
But Richard discovered the trust existed.
He began taking money from accounts connected to it.
He also forged documents attempting to make himself the beneficiary.
Chloe looked up.
“What property?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“The Henderson family farm.”
Chloe blinked.
“My grandmother's farm?”
Daniel nodded.
“It's worth approximately three million dollars.”
Chloe couldn't breathe.
The old farmhouse had always seemed worthless.
She remembered peeling paint.
Broken windows.
A barn leaning slightly to one side.
Richard had always called it “a dead piece of land.”
But apparently it wasn't dead.
It was valuable.
Very valuable.
Then Chloe found another page.
There is one more thing.
The farm isn't the inheritance.
It is only where the evidence is hidden.
Her hands began shaking.
“What evidence?”
Daniel didn't know.
But the letter continued.
Your father believes he stole money.
He did.
But he doesn't know what I buried beneath the old barn.
Chloe looked up.
Daniel's face was pale.
May you like
Detective Reed stood.
“We're going to the farm.”
