Chapter 7: The Missing Will
Chapter 7: The Missing Will
The cemetery fell silent after the gunfire.
Officers spread through the trees surrounding the Blackwood mausoleum, searching for the sniper. Helicopters circled overhead within minutes, while paramedics checked everyone for injuries.
Emily remained on the ground, one hand protectively covering her stomach.
"Ethan..."
"I'm okay," he said, helping her sit up. "Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
"The baby?"
A paramedic knelt beside her with a fetal Doppler.
After a tense few seconds, a strong heartbeat filled the air.
Emily let out a shaky breath.
"Thank God."
Detective Keller walked toward the storm drain where the flash drive had disappeared.
An officer shined a flashlight through the metal grate.
"I can see it."
Keller crouched down.
The flash drive had landed on a narrow concrete ledge several feet below instead of washing into the drainage tunnel.
"It's still there."
He immediately ordered the fire department to retrieve it.
"No one touches it except the evidence team."
Emily finally smiled.
Charles's evidence hadn't been lost after all.
Back at the mausoleum, Ethan carefully opened the sealed envelope marked For Emily.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Charles's unmistakable handwriting filled the page.
Emily,
If you're reading this, then my worst fear has come true.
I chose you because you're the only person in this family who still believes right and wrong matter more than money.
Don't blame Daniel. He knows far less than you think. I've spent years protecting him from the truth.
The flash drive contains copies of financial records, but it isn't the most important evidence.
The real key isn't money. It's my will.
My original will disappeared the day before I died.
The version presented after my funeral was forged.
Find my real will before they do.
Trust Ethan Cross. I arranged for him to be invited to the gala if anything ever happened to me. He doesn't know it yet, but I trusted his father with my life.
One more thing...
The greatest lie in this family isn't about my death.
It's about Daniel's birth.
Emily stopped reading.
Her hands trembled.
Daniel stared at her.
"What... does that mean?"
No one answered.
Even Margaret had gone completely still.
For the first time since this nightmare had begun, genuine fear crossed her face.
"Everyone step back."
Keller took the letter and carefully placed it into an evidence bag.
He looked at Margaret.
"Mrs. Blackwood..."
"I think it's time you came to the station."
Her attorney immediately stepped forward.
"My client hasn't been charged with anything."
"Not yet."
Keller's eyes never left Margaret.
"But she is now the primary suspect in an attempted murder investigation."
Margaret calmly adjusted her gloves.
"I'll cooperate."
As officers escorted her toward a patrol car, she glanced briefly at Daniel.
It was only a second.
But Daniel understood.
She wanted him to remain silent.
For the first time in his life...
He ignored her.
Later that afternoon, the recovered flash drive arrived at the state crime lab.
A digital forensic examiner connected it to an isolated computer.
"It's encrypted."
"Can you open it?" Keller asked.
"Eventually."
"How long?"
The examiner frowned.
"Without the password?"
"Maybe a few days."
Keller sighed.
"I don't think we have that much time."
Meanwhile, Ethan couldn't stop thinking about one sentence in Charles's letter.
I trusted his father with my life.
He drove straight to his late father's house.
The small cabin had remained untouched since his father's death three years earlier.
Dust covered every shelf.
Old FBI commendations still hung on the walls.
Rachel watched as Ethan searched through boxes in the attic.
"What exactly are you looking for?"
"I don't know."
"If Charles trusted Dad..."
"...there has to be something here."
Hours passed.
Nothing.
Then Ethan noticed an old wooden cigar box hidden beneath a loose floorboard.
Inside were dozens of photographs.
Letters.
And one sealed file marked:
BLACKWOOD – CONFIDENTIAL
His heart raced.
He opened it.
The first page was an FBI memorandum dated twenty-six years earlier.
Subject: Organized Financial Crime Investigation
Primary Persons of Interest:
Charles Blackwood
Richard Hawthorne
Victor Sloan
Eleanor Grant
Ethan frowned.
Victor Sloan.
The unidentified man in the old photograph.
He kept reading.
The final page had been torn away.
But someone had written one sentence across the inside cover.
We were watching the wrong Blackwood.
That evening, Daniel visited Emily for the first time since the cemetery.
Rachel left them alone in the guesthouse living room.
Neither spoke for several moments.
Finally, Daniel broke the silence.
"I owe you an apology."
Emily looked at him quietly.
"I should've believed you."
"You should have."
"I'm sorry."
His voice cracked.
"I've spent my entire life believing my mother could never lie."
Emily softened slightly.
"I know."
Daniel looked down.
"My father always wanted to tell me something."
"What?"
"He'd start... then Mom would interrupt."
Emily thought about Charles's letter.
The greatest lie in this family isn't about my death.
She hesitated.
"Daniel..."
"What if your father wasn't talking about the business?"
He looked confused.
"What else could it be?"
Emily couldn't bring herself to answer.
Not yet.
Across the city, Margaret sat alone inside an interrogation room.
Detective Keller placed Charles's letter on the table.
"You've had an interesting day."
Margaret smiled politely.
"I've had worse."
Keller slid the old photograph across the table.
"Who's Victor Sloan?"
For the first time, Margaret's smile disappeared.
"I haven't heard that name in decades."
"So you know him."
She remained silent.
"What happened to him?"
"I don't know."
Keller leaned forward.
"Charles's journal says someone inside your circle betrayed everyone."
Margaret slowly folded her hands.
"Detective..."
"Some people disappear because they choose to."
"And some disappear because someone makes sure they never come back."
Keller studied her face.
"Which was Victor?"
Margaret looked him directly in the eye.
"I suggest you stop asking about him."
"Why?"
"Because if Victor Sloan is alive..."
"...then none of us are safe."
Late that night, as rain once again fell over the city, someone quietly entered the Blackwood family mausoleum.
The police tape had already been cut.
The mysterious figure walked directly to Charles's empty crypt.
Without hesitation, they reached into a hidden compartment behind the stone wall.
They removed a thin leather folder.
Inside was a document with Charles Blackwood's signature across the bottom.
His original will.
The figure smiled beneath the darkness.
"So..."
"They never found it."
As the stranger turned to leave, a beam of light suddenly illuminated the mausoleum.
"Freeze!"
Detective Keller stepped into the doorway, gun raised.
For a split second, the stranger stood perfectly still.
Then they threw the folder into the air.
Hundreds of pages scattered like snow across the cemetery floor.
Before Keller could react, the stranger disappeared through a hidden exit concealed behind the mausoleum wall.
Keller rushed to gather the scattered papers.
Most were blank.
Only the final page remained.
Across the bottom was Charles Blackwood's original signature.
Above it, one sentence had been highlighted in yellow.
"My entire estate shall pass to my only living child."
Keller stared at the page.
His pulse quickened.
Only living child?
May you like
Daniel was Charles Blackwood's only son...
Wasn't he?
