Chapter 10 - Thirteen Minutes
The file was designed to resemble a personal journal.
Emily supposedly wrote it.
Except she hadn’t.
It contained statements suggesting she was planning to fabricate allegations against Ethan.
Investigators examined its creation history.
Rebecca explained the findings cautiously.
“They are still establishing who created it and how.”
Emily stared at the report.
“He was going to say I planned everything.”
“That appears to be one possibility investigators are examining.”
Richard felt sick.
At 12:51 p.m., while Easter sunlight filled the mansion, someone had modified a document capable of undermining Emily’s credibility.
At 1:04, she called Richard.
The timing mattered.
But evidence needed interpretation, and Rebecca refused to let anger outrun facts.
Then forensic analysis provided another lead.
The document had been accessed through credentials associated with Ethan.
His attorneys argued credentials could be compromised.
Investigators continued.
Emily struggled with the uncertainty.
“Why isn’t anything simple?”
“Because real investigations rarely are,” Rebecca said.
Emily sighed.
Richard almost smiled.
Rebecca had become one of the few people capable of telling Emily something she disliked without making her feel powerless.
Meanwhile, Caldwell Digital Solutions placed Ethan on temporary leave while its board conducted an internal review.
Ethan called the move unnecessary and promised to clear his name.
His public life began unraveling.
But Emily’s life was beginning again.
She returned to painting.
Richard had forgotten how much she loved it.
As a teenager she painted landscapes.
After marrying Ethan, she stopped.
“He said it was childish.”
Richard looked at the half-finished canvas in his garage.
A sunrise over water.
“What do you think?”
Emily considered it.
“I think I don’t care what he thinks anymore.”
Richard smiled.
“Good.”
Then Margaret arrived.
She carried no evidence this time.
Only an apology.
Emily allowed her inside.
Margaret sat across from her.
“I defended him.”
“Yes.”
“I dismissed things I should have questioned.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
Emily looked surprised.
Margaret continued.
“I came because I needed to say it without asking you to make me feel better.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
For nearly an hour, they talked.
It did not repair everything.
But truth rarely repairs damage immediately.
Sometimes it simply stops more damage from being done.
Before leaving, Margaret gave Emily something.
A small jewelry box.
Inside was Emily’s grandmother’s necklace.
“I found it in Ethan’s safe.”
Emily stared at it.
“I thought I lost this.”
Margaret shook her head.
Richard saw Emily understand.
Another tiny mystery.
Another object Ethan had allowed her to believe she had misplaced.
Emily closed the box.
Instead of crying, she became calm.
“Thank you.”
After Margaret left, Emily walked outside.
Richard followed.
She stood beneath the oak tree in his backyard.
“I keep finding pieces of myself everywhere.”
Richard remained beside her.
“Then we keep collecting them.”
She smiled.
But the peaceful moment ended when Rebecca called again.
The forensic team had identified another file.
This one was not about Emily.
It concerned a former Caldwell employee named Noah Grant.
Noah had disappeared from professional life two years earlier after being accused of stealing company data.
The accusation destroyed his career.
Now investigators had reason to question whether the evidence against him had also been manipulated.
May you like
Mirror House might have had another victim.
And Noah Grant was still alive.
