Chapter 25 - THE LAST SECRET OF SAMUEL BENNETT My father had spent his final months preparing for his own death.
He knew the Caldwells were watching him.
He knew the police could be compromised.
He knew his daughter could become a target.
But he had also discovered something about Eleanor.
She was not the highest-ranking member of Meridian.
She answered to someone else.
A person known only as The Architect.
My father had never discovered the Architect's real name.
But he had discovered a pattern.
Every major Caldwell transaction had been approved by a separate account.
Every threat had passed through the same intermediary.
Every disappearance had been followed by one anonymous payment.
Then I saw the final page.
One sentence.
THE ARCHITECT HAS ACCESS TO THE BENNETT FAMILY.
I looked at Reyes.
“What does that mean?”
She didn't answer.
Her phone rang.
She listened.
Then her face changed.
“What?”
She hung up.
“Someone broke into the Bennett House.”
We drove there at full speed.
Nothing had been stolen.
No computers.
No money.
No files.
Only one thing was missing.
The framed photograph of my father.
On the wall, someone had written:
HE SHOULD HAVE FINISHED THE JOB.
Grace was standing nearby.
She looked terrified.
“I saw someone.”
I crouched beside her.
“What did they look like?”
She shook her head.
“I couldn't see their face.”
“Anything else?”
She thought.
Then whispered:
“They smelled like roses.”
My blood froze.
Eleanor always wore rose perfume.
But Eleanor was in prison.
Reyes understood what I was thinking.
“That's impossible.”
I nodded.
“It should be.”
Then the lights in the Bennett House flickered.
Every security monitor turned on simultaneously.
A woman's face appeared on the screen.
Not Eleanor.
Not Lydia.
Not Caroline.
A stranger.
May you like
She smiled.
“Hello, Claire.”
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