Chapter 9 - The Night I Was Supposed to Vanish
I had spent six weeks believing I survived because Richard finally called for help.
Now I knew there was another possibility.
I survived because something interrupted a plan.
The medical transport order had been created before Richard injured me.
That meant someone had anticipated my removal from the house.
Possibly even arranged it.
Reyes asked me to recount the evening again.
Every detail.
Every sound.
Every word.
I closed my eyes.
I remembered Eleanor arriving.
The photograph.
Richard's anger.
The dining room.
The pain.
Then the moment Eleanor told him not to call an ambulance.
I remembered Richard saying I wasn't breathing properly.
And then—
A doorbell.
My eyes opened.
"The doorbell."
Everyone looked at me.
"What about it?" Sullivan asked.
"Someone came to the house."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
I pressed my fingers against my forehead.
"I remember hearing the doorbell. Eleanor told Richard not to answer it."
"Then?"
"Someone knocked."
I swallowed.
"Not at the front door."
Katherine leaned forward.
"Where?"
"The side entrance. Near the kitchen."
I could hear it again.
Three knocks.
A pause.
Two knocks.
Katherine went white.
"Claire."
I looked at her.
"That's how Mercy knocked."
The room fell silent.
"Whoever was outside," I whispered, "used the same signal."
Sullivan immediately requested the estate's security records.
But Richard controlled the camera system.
And according to the property manager, footage from that night had been overwritten during a routine equipment update.
I almost laughed.
Of course it had.
Everything in that house disappeared when Eleanor wanted it gone.
But Evelyn had another idea.
"Did the Bennetts use a private security company?"
"Yes," I said.
"Do you remember the name?"
"Northbridge Protective Services."
She began typing.
Within minutes, she found an old vendor payment.
Then another.
Then a third.
The company had changed names twice.
But one executive remained connected to it.
A man named Peter Voss.
Katherine inhaled sharply.
"Voss."
I turned toward her.
"You know him?"
She nodded.
"He was the guard who helped me escape the facility."
For the first time, her voice held something like disbelief.
"He told me he'd never forgive himself for what he'd done."
Sullivan leaned forward.
"What did he do?"
Katherine looked at me.
"He worked for Eleanor."
"And now?"
"I don't know."
Evelyn continued searching.
Then stopped.
"He's still receiving payments."
"From the foundation?" Reyes asked.
"No."
Evelyn turned the laptop toward us.
"From Richard Bennett's personal legal practice."
I stared at the screen.
Richard had been paying the man who helped Katherine escape.
Why?
Then my phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
One message.
I WAS AT THE KITCHEN DOOR THAT NIGHT. YOUR HUSBAND DIDN'T CALL THE AMBULANCE. I DID.
May you like
A second message appeared.
AND I HAVE THE VIDEO.
