Chapter 15 - THE LOSS
The police offered protection. But Margaret had covered her tracks. No witnesses. No evidence. Nothing to tie her to the fire.
“She’s gone,” the detective told us. “Crossed the border. We think she’s in Canada. But we can’t prove it.”
But I knew she wasn’t gone. Not really. She was watching. Waiting.
We moved again. To a secure location. Under police guard. But the fear had settled deep.
Olivia changed after that night. She stopped sleeping through the night. She flinched at loud noises. She held onto my hand so tight her knuckles turned white.
One afternoon she looked up at me, eyes big and sad.
“Mommy… is someone afraid of us?”
I knelt down, brushing hair away from her face, my heart aching.
“No, baby. No one is afraid of us. But some people are very afraid of the truth. And they do terrible things because of it.”
She frowned, not fully understanding, but she nodded anyway. That was the hardest part—protecting her from the danger while never letting her feel like she was the reason for it all.
That same evening, Daniel received a package. Delivered by courier, no return address. He opened it carefully.
Inside was a single photograph. Julian Voss. Young, standing beside Clara. And on the back, written in Margaret’s handwriting:
*Stop looking. He is dead. And so is the truth.*
Daniel slammed the photograph onto the table, his face hard with rage.
“She’s threatening us. She’s daring us to keep digging.”
“Which means we’re getting close,” I said quietly. “If Julian were truly dead, she wouldn’t care if we looked. She would let us find the proof ourselves. She’s hiding something.”
Daniel picked up the photograph again, staring hard at it.
“Look at the background,” he said suddenly.
I leaned in. Behind Julian and Clara, barely visible, was a gate. A sign. Faded but legible: Havenwood Estate.
“Havenwood…” I frowned. “That’s an old property up in the mountains. My father owned it. He rarely went there. Said it was too remote.”
Daniel stood up, grabbing his coat.
“Margaret said Julian was dead. But what if he’s not? What if your father locked him away somewhere? Somewhere no one would ever look?”
May you like
“At Havenwood?”
“It’s the only lead we have.” He looked at me, eyes burning with purpose. “Margaret tried to burn us out. She thinks fear will make us run. She’s wrong. We go there. Tomorrow. We find out what really happened. And we end this.”
