Chapter 4 - The Guest Who Wasn't Invited
Ryan immediately called security.
The vineyard staff closed the gates while Daniel contacted the detective handling the reopened case.
I looked around at every face differently.
The threat had transformed guests into suspects.
Emily came beside me.
"Jason."
I stepped away.
Pain crossed her face.
"I understand."
"No, you don't."
"You're right."
That answer stopped me.
She didn't defend herself.
"I should've told you."
"Yes."
"I thought if I could learn the truth first, I could explain everything."
"You don't get to decide what truth I'm allowed to handle."
"I know."
Before I could respond, Ryan approached.
"Security found something."
Outside the tent, behind a row of vines, someone had left footprints in damp soil.
They led toward the parking lot.
A security camera captured a man in a catering jacket entering the property an hour earlier.
Nobody recognized him.
The catering company confirmed he wasn't an employee.
The detective arrived twenty minutes later.
Detective Laura Martinez was in her forties, calm and direct.
She examined Daniel's messages and asked everyone to remain.
Then she showed Thomas the security image.
Thomas stared at it.
"Do you know him?"
"No."
Caroline leaned closer.
Her face changed.
"Wait."
"What?"
"The way he walks."
Thomas stared at her.
"Caroline."
She whispered, "That looks like Evan."
"Who's Evan?" I asked.
Thomas hesitated.
"Andrew's son."
Emily's cousin.
I remembered hearing his name only a handful of times.
Emily said Evan had cut contact with the family years ago.
"Where is he?"
"No idea."
Martinez asked for a photograph.
Daniel found an old social media image.
The resemblance wasn't conclusive, but it was enough.
"Why would Evan threaten us?" Emily asked.
Thomas answered quietly.
"Because he spent his entire childhood believing Michael Carter destroyed his father."
I stared at him.
"How?"
"Andrew told his family that Michael framed him."
The past was becoming a machine built from lies.
One lie protecting another until nobody remembered where truth ended.
Martinez took Thomas aside.
Meanwhile I walked outside.
The vineyard air was cold.
Ryan followed.
"You hate me?"
"Ask tomorrow."
"Fair."
"Why didn't you tell me privately?"
"I tried."
I remembered missed calls that morning.
I'd assumed wedding chaos.
Ryan continued.
"Then Daniel showed me the second part of your father's letter."
I turned.
"What second part?"
Ryan's face tightened.
"The envelope had another page."
"You gave me one."
"Because Thomas took the other before you opened it."
I stared at him.
"When?"
"While everyone was looking at Caroline."
We went back inside.
Thomas was gone.
So was Caroline.
Emily saw my expression.
"What happened?"
"Where's your father?"
She looked around.
"I don't know."
Ryan said, "He took part of Michael's letter."
Emily's face hardened.
For the first time that evening, she wasn't frightened.
She was angry.
She walked straight toward her father's office inside the vineyard's main building.
We followed.
The door was locked.
"Dad!"
No answer.
Daniel arrived.
He unlocked it with a staff key.
Empty.
An exterior door stood open.
On the desk lay the missing page.
Thomas hadn't taken it to destroy it.
He'd taken it to read alone.
I picked it up.
My father's handwriting covered half the sheet.
There was one paragraph circled.
Andrew isn't acting alone. Someone close to me has been feeding him information. I don't know who yet.
Below that, written in darker ink:
If anything happens, Susan must never trust—
The sentence stopped.
The rest of the page had been torn away years ago.
Emily looked at me.
"Trust who?"
Before I could answer, Caroline screamed outside.
We ran.
She stood near the parking lot.
Thomas was on the ground.
Alive, but bleeding from his forehead.
Beside him lay a black catering jacket.
Martinez knelt beside him.
"Who did this?"
Thomas opened his eyes.
His lips moved.
I leaned closer.
"Evan?"
Thomas shook his head.
"No."
"Then who?"
His eyes found mine.
May you like
"Someone your father trusted."
And then he lost consciousness.
