Chapter 12 - THE MEETING AT THE CHAPEL
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The chapel stood beside a narrow country road, surrounded by bare trees and fields silvered with morning frost.
I arrived ten minutes before noon.
Dorian remained at the hotel, as agreed. The detective waited in an unmarked vehicle beyond the tree line.
I carried no purse, only my phone and a copy of the ledger.
Inside, sunlight fell through dusty stained-glass windows. A woman sat in the front pew, her hands folded around a small photograph.
She looked to be in her late fifties.
When she turned, I recognized the resemblance immediately.
Blythe had her eyes.
"Catherine?"
She stood.
"Audra."
I approached cautiously.
"Where is Margaret?"
"Safe. For now."
"And who ordered my mother's death?"
Catherine looked toward the chapel doors.
"Someone who believed your mother was about to expose everything. Someone who had access to Victor, the family accounts, and the private rooms of the estate."
"Tell me the name."
Catherine handed me the photograph.
It showed my mother standing outside the mansion with a woman whose face had been partly obscured by the shadow of a tree.
I recognized the coat.
The handbag.
The posture.
My stomach turned.
It was Evelyn Kincaid, Dorian's mother.
But Evelyn had died six years earlier.
"She was there the night my mother died," I whispered.
Catherine nodded.
"She was the person who convinced Victor that your father had to disappear. She believed your family would destroy everything the Kincaids had built."
"Then why does your message say she's still alive?"
"Because the name on the death certificate belongs to someone else."
I stared at her.
"You're saying Evelyn faked her death?"
"I'm saying I never saw her body. I attended a private service, but the coffin was sealed. Afterward, the money transfers continued. Someone using her old accounts continued controlling the operation."
A floorboard creaked behind us.
I turned.
Dorian stood in the doorway.
"You said you'd stay at the hotel," I said.
"I received a message saying you were in danger."
Catherine went pale.
"Who sent it?"
Dorian showed us his phone.
The message contained a photograph of the chapel, taken from outside.
Beneath it were six words.
Bring the ledger. Come without police.
The detective appeared at the chapel entrance a moment later.
"We've got a problem," he said. "Someone has been tracking all our movements."
A vehicle stopped outside.
A woman stepped through the doorway wearing a dark coat and gloves.
Her hair was silver. Her face was older, but unmistakable.
Dorian stared at her.
"Mother?"
Evelyn Kincaid smiled faintly.
"Hello, darling."
Dorian looked as though the floor had vanished beneath him.
Catherine crossed herself.
I could barely breathe.
Evelyn turned toward me.
"You look just like your mother, Audra."
May you like
Then she smiled.
"And unfortunately, you have inherited her habit of asking questions that should never be answered."
