Chapter 6 - The Nurse at the Lake
Ethan told Claire to get down.
Rebecca struck the hood with the gun.
“Turn off the engine.”
Claire’s first instinct was fear.
Her second was calculation.
Rebecca had chosen a narrow road with no phone signal and blocked both directions. She believed Claire had come alone or with limited help.
She did not know a police officer was following in Diane’s car.
But Diane and Sloane were no longer visible.
Ethan lowered the window slightly.
“My wife is pregnant.”
Rebecca’s expression did not change.
“Then she should have stayed home.”
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
Claire held her purse beneath the dashboard.
“What happened to my grandmother?”
Rebecca looked toward the dark trees.
“Your grandmother made decisions she did not understand.”
“That is what everyone says about women before stealing from them.”
Rebecca’s mouth tightened.
“Ruth understood enough to destroy her own family.”
“She changed the trust.”
“She discovered what Richard had done.”
Claire felt a chill.
“What had he done?”
Headlights appeared behind Rebecca’s vehicle.
For a moment, Claire expected Sloane or the police officer.
Instead, the headlights went dark.
Someone moved through the trees.
Rebecca turned.
Ethan used the distraction to accelerate.
The car struck the fallen branches and pushed through them with a grinding crack. Rebecca fired once. The rear window shattered.
Claire covered her stomach as glass scattered across the back seat.
Ethan drove until the road opened near the lake.
The old house appeared between the trees, dark except for one lamp burning in the upstairs window.
Someone was already inside.
They stopped near the porch.
Claire wanted to wait for the officer, but smoke curled from the side of the building.
“The safe,” she said.
Ethan took a tire iron from the trunk.
They entered through the kitchen.
The smell of gasoline filled the hallway.
A fire had begun near the stairs, but it had not yet spread.
Claire remembered the house perfectly despite the years. Ruth’s study was behind the living room, overlooking the water.
The safe stood behind a painting of the lake.
The painting had been removed.
The safe door was open.
Empty shelves waited inside.
Claire’s heart sank.
Then she remembered Ruth’s habits.
Her grandmother had never trusted obvious hiding places.
Claire entered her birthday as the combination again.
A second lock clicked beneath the safe.
Ethan pulled the lower panel forward.
Inside lay a small recorder, several property deeds, and a sealed envelope marked For Claire only.
Claire reached for the recorder.
A voice came from the doorway.
“Do not play it here.”
Sloane stood behind them.
Her pink dress was torn near the hem. Blood marked one side of her forehead.
Claire rushed toward her.
“What happened?”
“Mom’s car was forced off the road. The officer is with her. I came through the woods.”
“Is Mom hurt?”
“Shaken, but conscious.”
Ethan looked toward the hallway.
“Rebecca?”
“Following me.”
Sloane closed the study door.
Claire inserted the key into the recorder.
Ruth’s voice filled the room.
“If you are hearing this, Richard has failed to destroy the evidence.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Her grandmother sounded weak but completely lucid.
Ruth continued.
“Richard began taking money from the family company seven years ago. When I confronted him, he claimed he was protecting Diane and the girls. That was a lie. He was paying debts created by another family.”
Sloane looked at Claire.
“What other family?”
The recording continued.
“Richard has a son neither Diane nor the girls know exists.”
A floorboard creaked outside the study.
Claire lowered the volume.
Ruth said the son’s name was Matthew Hall.
Rebecca’s surname.
Claire understood before the recording explained.
Rebecca was not merely a nurse.
She was the mother of Richard’s secret child.
The payments marked R.H. had supported Rebecca.
The medical company transfers had covered Matthew’s debts.
Richard had stolen from Claire to finance the life he had hidden from Diane for more than thirty years.
Sloane sat down heavily.
“Our father has a son.”
The door handle moved.
Rebecca pushed against it from the other side.
“Give me the recorder,” she said.
Smoke thickened beneath the ceiling.
Claire held the recorder close.
Ruth’s voice continued through the speaker.
“And if I died after making this recording, ask Richard what Rebecca placed in my medication.”
May you like
Rebecca began firing through the door.
Continue to the next part: Ruth’s accusation traps Claire inside a burning study with the woman who may have caused her death.
