The Woman Beneath the Silk
Chapter 05 - The Woman Beneath the Silk
Everything happened at once. Miriam called Lily’s name. Grant ran toward the woods. One attendant dropped to his knees and claimed he had known nothing about the hidden compartment. Vivian stood perfectly still, staring at Lily as if the dead had risen to accuse her.
Daniel pulled the tape from his sister’s mouth.
“Dad,” Lily gasped. “They killed Dad.”
Her voice was barely audible. Daniel lifted her from the coffin, wrapped his suit jacket around her, and carried her toward the car. Sirens sounded beyond the gate.
Vivian recovered quickly. She pointed at Lily and shouted, “This is another performance! She staged her disappearance because she stole the money.”
Lily tried to speak, but her body shook violently. Miriam stepped between them.
“Save your lies for the police.”
The first patrol car arrived, followed by an ambulance. Grant was caught near the tree line. The attendants were separated for questioning. Vivian demanded to call the mayor, the district attorney, and several members of the foundation board. No one listened.
Paramedics placed Lily on a stretcher. Daniel stayed beside her while they checked her breathing and started an IV.
“The coffin,” Lily whispered. “Do not let them take it.”
“What is in it?”
“Evidence.”
She looked toward their father’s still body, visible beneath the raised lid, and tears filled her eyes. “He tried to protect us.”
At the hospital, doctors found a strong sedative in Lily’s blood but no life-threatening injuries. She had been kept unconscious for most of two days. Her last clear memory was entering her father’s office after receiving a panicked call from him.
Daniel sat beside her bed until midnight. Every time she woke, she asked whether the coffin had been secured. He promised it had been taken to the county evidence facility.
A detective named Claire Morgan arrived shortly after one in the morning. Daniel recognized her immediately. Claire had grown up next door to the Bennetts and had once been Lily’s closest friend. She had also been the person Daniel left without explanation ten years earlier.
Claire placed a recorder on the table.
“Lily,” she said carefully, “I need you to tell me what happened before you disappeared.”
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Lily looked at Daniel, then at the closed hospital door.
“It started when Dad found a second set of books,” she said. “Vivian was not stealing from the foundation alone. Someone on the board was helping her, and Dad discovered exactly who it was.”
