Chapter 14 - Her Mother's Secret
Thea had believed she knew everything important about her mother.
She knew Marianne hated mushrooms.
Loved old mystery novels.
Cried at dog-food commercials.
Had worked as a respiratory therapist before illness forced her to stop.
She knew Marianne had raised her alone after Thea's father disappeared when she was two.
She knew every medication in the kitchen cabinet.
Every bill in the blue folder.
Every scar from every hospital procedure.
She did not know her mother had witnessed the death of Harrison Voss.
“Start at the beginning,” Thea said.
Marianne sat in the recovery-room chair wrapped in a blanket.
Lachlan stood across from her.
His face was unreadable.
“In 2011,” Marianne began, “I worked private home-health shifts.”
“For the Voss family?” Thea asked.
“Not officially.”
“Then?”
“A staffing agency sent me to a dinner event because Mr. Voss—Harrison—had been recovering from pneumonia.”
Lachlan stared.
“My father had pneumonia?”
“Three weeks earlier.”
“I never knew.”
“He didn't want his children worried.”
“That sounds like him.”
Marianne continued.
“I was in the service corridor when Mr. Voss collapsed.”
“What did you see?”
“A man leaving the dining room.”
“Conrad?”
“No.”
Lachlan leaned forward.
“Who?”
“Graham Vale.”
Silence.
“He passed me,” Marianne said. “He told me Harrison had fainted.”
“Then?”
“I entered. Harrison wasn't breathing properly.”
“What did you do?”
“CPR. Called emergency services.”
“Was Conrad there?”
“He arrived minutes later.”
Lachlan frowned.
“So Vale was physically present.”
“Yes.”
“Why wasn't that in the records?”
“Because the next day I was called by an attorney.”
“Whose attorney?”
Marianne looked ashamed.
“Voss family counsel.”
“What did they say?”
“That the family wanted privacy.”
“And?”
“They offered me money.”
Thea stared.
“You took it?”
“No.”
Relief.
“But I signed a confidentiality agreement.”
Lachlan's jaw tightened.
“Who was the lawyer?”
“I don't remember his first name.”
“Last?”
“Bennett.”
Lachlan went still.
Thea noticed.
“Who?”
“Samuel Bennett.”
“Your attorney?”
“Former general counsel. He retired seven years ago.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Florida.”
Marcus was already calling.
Marianne continued.
“Three days later, someone broke into my apartment.”
Thea stopped breathing.
“You never told me.”
“You were four.”
“What did they take?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why—”
“They left something.”
Marianne's eyes filled.
“A photograph of you at preschool.”
Thea went cold.
“And you stayed silent.”
“Yes.”
For the first time, Thea truly understood Astrid.
Not excused.
Understood.
A photograph of a child.
A silent message.
We can reach what you love.
“Did Elena ever contact you?” Lachlan asked.
Marianne looked at him.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“About four months before she died.”
“How did she find you?”
“I don't know.”
“What did she ask?”
“What I saw the night Harrison died.”
“And you told her?”
“Yes.”
Lachlan closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“Because Thea was eighteen by then. I thought the danger was over.”
Thea stared.
“Mom.”
“I know.”
“Did Elena tell you what she was investigating?”
“Only that she believed her father's death was connected to company money.”
“Did you meet again?”
“Once.”
“Where?”
“A café.”
“Anyone see you?”
“I don't know.”
Lachlan looked at Marcus.
“If Vale knew Marianne was a witness—”
“He may have been monitoring Elena.”
Thea's stomach twisted.
“My mother's illness.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What?” Marianne asked.
“When did you first get sick?”
“Two years ago.”
“Could it be related?”
Marianne shook her head.
“Thea.”
“No. Harrison was poisoned. Elena was killed. Daniel was murdered. Adrian was attacked.”
She looked at Lachlan.
“What if Mom wasn't supposed to survive long enough to talk?”
Lachlan called her physician.
Toxicology screens were ordered.
Hours passed.
The results showed no evidence Marianne had been deliberately poisoned.
Her condition was genuine.
Unrelated.
Thea cried with relief over learning her mother was simply sick.
Life had become strange.
Meanwhile, investigators located Samuel Bennett.
He agreed to speak.
Video call.
Eighty-two.
Retired.
Terrified.
“Yes,” Bennett said. “I prepared Marianne's agreement.”
“Who instructed you?” Lachlan asked.
“August Voss.”
“Did he know Harrison was murdered?”
Bennett closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Who told him?”
“Conrad.”
“What did Conrad say?”
“That it had been an accident.”
Lachlan laughed bitterly.
“Poisoning?”
“He claimed Vale gave Harrison medication intended only to make him ill.”
“Why?”
“To stop a board vote.”
Thea stared.
“That is insane.”
Bennett nodded.
“August believed it.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why help?”
“Because I was paid.”
There it was again.
Money.
The solvent used to wash blood from powerful people's hands.
“Did August create Sparrow?” Thea asked.
Bennett looked surprised.
“You found the archive.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know.”
“Tell us.”
Bennett sighed.
“Sparrow began as a political influence network.”
“Illegal?”
“Some activities.”
“Some?”
He almost smiled.
“Many.”
“Who controls it now?”
“I don't know.”
“Vale?”
“No.”
“Conrad?”
“No.”
“Julian?”
“No.”
Lachlan leaned forward.
“Then who?”
Bennett hesitated.
“August chose a successor.”
Everyone became silent.
“Who?”
“He never told me the name.”
“Where would it be recorded?”
“In the founder's testament.”
“We have his will.”
“Not the will.”
Bennett shook his head.
“The private testament.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Lachlan leaned back.
Another document.
Another secret.
Then Marianne whispered, “I do.”
Thea turned.
“What?”
Marianne looked embarrassed.
“Elena gave me an envelope.”
“When?”
“At the café.”
“What envelope?”
“She told me if anything happened to her, I should hide it somewhere no Voss would ever look.”
Lachlan stared.
“Where?”
Marianne pointed toward Thea.
“I put it inside your father's old guitar case.”
Thea blinked.
“The guitar case in our storage closet?”
“Yes.”
“You kept it for three years?”
“I forgot about it.”
Lachlan stared.
“You forgot a secret document connected to my sister's murder?”
Marianne frowned.
“I was raising a teenager and then became critically ill. Some things slipped.”
Thea burst out laughing.
Soon all three were laughing.
Not because anything was funny.
Because sometimes terror becomes too heavy to carry without laughter.
Marcus retrieved the guitar case.
Inside, behind a torn velvet lining, they found the envelope.
Elena's handwriting:
PRIVATE TESTAMENT — AUGUST VOSS
Lachlan opened it.
Pages.
Signatures.
A final directive naming the person August selected to control Sparrow after his death.
Thea watched Lachlan read.
His face changed.
“No.”
“What?” she asked.
He handed her the paper.
The successor was not Vale.
Not Conrad.
Not Julian.
It was Astrid Voss.
Lachlan's grandmother.
The woman who claimed she had spent years trying to save the family from secrets.
According to August's own signed testament, Astrid had inherited the entire hidden network.
May you like
And suddenly her apology at the cemetery looked very different.
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