Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
The investigation did not end when Julian and Walter were taken away. By noon, the estate was full of officers, attorneys, and employees who had spent years pretending not to notice the tension inside the Blackwood family.
Adrian remained in the boardroom while Miles coordinated with the police. Emma sat beside him, reading through the medical file again.
“There is a page missing,” she said.
Adrian looked up. “Which one?”
“The first page of the emergency intake record. The hospital copy begins with the ambulance transfer, but this report references a person who identified you at the scene.”
“Thomas?”
“No. It says ‘family representative.’”
Adrian frowned. “There was no family representative.”
Emma turned the paper around. A small handwritten notation appeared at the bottom: R.B. — notified 11:42 P.M.
“Who is R.B.?” she asked.
Adrian thought of the family lawyer, Robert Bell. But Bell had been out of the country that week. The initials could belong to someone else.
Miles entered with a tablet. “We recovered part of the deleted security footage.”
He played a clip from the service tunnel. The image was grainy, but a woman in a long coat entered the garage shortly before the crash. She carried a small leather bag and looked directly at the camera.
Adrian recognized her.
“Rebecca,” he whispered.
Rebecca Blackwood was his aunt, his father's younger sister. She had lived in London for years and had returned to the United States only twice since the funeral. She had been the one who identified Julian's body after the boating accident.
“I thought she was in England,” Adrian said.
“She arrived yesterday,” Miles replied. “Her private plane landed at a regional airport. She left before the gala.”
Emma studied the image. “She was at the garage before the accident?”
“Apparently.”
Adrian called her. The number rang once, then went to voicemail.
He left a message asking her to meet him.
An hour later, she appeared at the estate. Rebecca was elegant, silver-haired, and composed. She wore a navy coat and carried the same leather bag from the footage.
“Adrian,” she said, kissing his cheek. “You look better.”
“I'm walking again.”
Her eyes moved to his legs. Something like disappointment crossed her face before she concealed it.
“So I heard.”
“Why were you at the garage the night of the crash?”
Rebecca set her bag on the table. “I was trying to stop Julian.”
“You knew he was alive?”
“I helped him disappear.”
The words landed with a quiet finality.
She explained that Julian had staged his death after their father threatened to remove him from the family trust. Rebecca believed she was protecting him from a legal fight that would ruin his life. She arranged the false identification and the closed-casket funeral.
“But he used the disappearance to build a network,” Adrian said.
“He told me he wanted to return when you were ready to share power.”
“You knew he planned the crash.”
“I knew he was angry. I didn't know he would do that.”
“Then why were you at the garage?”
Rebecca looked at the leather bag. “I brought him the original route schedule. I thought he wanted to confront you before the board meeting.”
Adrian stared at her. “You gave him my route.”
“I didn't know what he intended.”
“You never asked.”
Rebecca began to cry, but Adrian felt no relief. Her tears did not return Thomas. They did not undo the years he had spent learning to stand.
Miles quietly told her the police wanted a statement.
Rebecca nodded. “I'll tell them everything.”
As she left, Emma touched Adrian's arm.
“Your family has been keeping secrets for a long time.”
“Too long.”
He looked at the security footage once more. Rebecca had not been the only person in the garage. Behind her, almost hidden by a pillar, stood a second figure.
The figure wore the uniform of a hospital orderly.
May you like
Adrian enlarged the image.
It was the same man who had pushed his wheelchair at the hospital during the first week after surgery.
