Chapter 4 - THE SILVER WATCH Marcus Hale arrived voluntarily.
Former detective.
Corporate security chief.
Eleven years with the Carter family.
Silver watch.
“Caroline hated me,” Marcus said.
“Why?”
“She thought I was protecting Gregory.”
“Were you?”
Marcus held David’s stare.
“I thought I was protecting the company.”
David had begun to hate that phrase.
The company.
The family.
The name.
Abstract words used to excuse very concrete harm.
Marcus admitted Gregory ordered surveillance on Caroline.
At first, Marcus believed she was leaking corporate information.
Then he discovered what she was actually doing.
“She was building a fraud case.”
“And you kept following her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked away.
“By then, I was already in too deep.”
He claimed Laura Bennett had tried to recruit him as a source.
Phone records proved they spoke three times.
After Laura died, her phone mysteriously vanished from evidence.
The officer responsible for inventory later became a paid consultant for Caleb Voss.
The circle kept tightening.
Then investigators uncovered something worse.
On Caleb’s secondary computer was a draft amendment to Sophie’s trust.
Under the proposed changes, David would control Sophie’s shares.
If David died—or were declared mentally incapacitated—control would pass to his spouse.
Vanessa.
Beside it sat a psychological evaluation of David.
Complicated grief.
Emotional dependence.
Potential temporary incapacity during crisis.
David recognized the doctor.
Vanessa had arranged the appointments.
She had called them grief counseling.
They had been building a road to remove him.
First use him.
Then replace him.
Police searched the old servant corridors again.
Behind David’s office they found another hidden storage chamber.
Inside was a box marked in Caroline’s handwriting.
Photos.
Documents.
A recorder.
And one note.
If you find this, look where Sophie learned to count stars.
David knew immediately.
The small family observatory.
Caroline used to carry infant Sophie there at night and count stars above the glass roof.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Seven stays.
The observatory no longer existed.
Vanessa had recommended demolishing it after Caroline’s death.
Gregory had arranged the contractor.
David had signed the approval.
Again.
His signature.
Someone else’s decision.
May you like
The terrace that replaced the observatory suddenly felt less like a renovation.
And more like a grave.
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