Chapter 5 - Margaret's Visit
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The following evening, I was sitting in the small kitchen of my new rental house, watching Emma color a picture of a rainbow at the table.
The doorbell rang.
I glanced at the security monitor. Standing on my porch in the freezing November wind was Margaret Ellis.
I opened the door, pulling my cardigan tighter around my shoulders. "Margaret. You shouldn't be here. The police are looking for you."
"The police are looking for a paper trail that Victoria meticulously destroyed," Margaret said, stepping into the warmth of the hallway. She looked exhausted, her gray hair pulled into a messy bun. "I came because you are the only person who can finish this, Claire."
"Finish what?" I asked, leading her into the living room, out of earshot of Emma. "Victoria is in prison. She’s going to spend the rest of her life there."
"You think a prison cell can stop a woman with Victoria’s resources?" Margaret scoffed bitterly. "She is already bribing guards. She is hiring the most expensive appellate lawyers in the country. If she gets a mistrial, she will come after you and Emma."
A cold spike of terror pierced my chest.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked.
Margaret reached into her heavy coat and pulled out a small, ornate brass key. She placed it on the coffee table.
"Seven years ago, before Trevor’s father died, Victoria bought an abandoned summer estate on the coast of Maine," Margaret explained, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "It was purchased through a shell company. Trevor doesn't even know it exists. But you have been there."
May you like
My breath caught. "Our honeymoon. Trevor told me it was a rental."
"It wasn't," Margaret corrected. "Behind the bookshelves in the master study, there is a wall safe. Victoria hid the primary ledgers there because she knew the feds would eventually raid the Greenwich house. That safe holds the true reason she killed your babies."
