Chapter 12 - The Mill of Green Glass.
The abandoned mill rose beside the river like a rusted cathedral.
Its broken windows reflected dawn in sheets of sickly green.
Lucas wanted Eleanor taken to a hospital under federal protection, but she refused to leave before identifying the nurse's grave.
“Her name was Helen Moore,” she said.
“She gave Amelia to Ruth and died protecting both of you.”
Marcus contacted federal agents through Gideon's investigator, yet the nearest team could not arrive for forty minutes.
Daniel's deadline allowed twenty.
Amelia created three copies of the memory card and gave one to Marcus, one to Lucas, and one to Vanessa.
She wore the empty jade pendant openly.
Vanessa insisted on entering the mill with them.
“Daniel thinks blood makes him my father,” she said.
“I want him to learn that choice matters more.”
Inside, conveyor belts hung above vats once used to polish imported jade.
Gideon sat tied to a chair on the central platform.
Harlan stood behind him with a gun.
Margaret waited in her burgundy gown, now torn and blackened by smoke.
Daniel held the stolen ledger beneath one arm.
“The pendant,” he called.
Amelia placed it on the conveyor.
The machine shuddered to life and carried the green stone toward him.
Daniel picked it up, opened the shell, and found nothing.
His smile vanished.
“Where is the card?”
“Already everywhere.”
Lucas raised his phone, which displayed the confession audio queued for public release.
Daniel nodded to Harlan.
The corrupt officer pressed the gun against Gideon's head.
Margaret looked from Gideon to the ledger.
“Give them the old man and let us leave.”
Daniel laughed at her.
For twenty-two years, Margaret had believed they were partners.
Now he revealed that the ledger documented her payments, her orders, and her attempts to poison Gideon.
He planned to trade it for immunity and leave her responsible for everything.
Vanessa stepped into the light.
“Was I ever anything except another forged document?”
Daniel's face softened, but his gun did not.
“You were the reason I deserved the Vale fortune.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only one that matters.”
Margaret flinched as if the cruelty had struck her instead.
Amelia saw the first crack between the conspirators.
She pushed harder.
“Daniel kept Eleanor alive because he needed insurance against you.”
Margaret turned toward him.
He denied it too quickly.
Lucas used the distraction to dive behind a polishing vat.
Harlan fired, and the bullet severed a steam pipe.
White vapor swallowed the platform.
Vanessa rushed Gideon's chair while Amelia chased the sound of the ledger striking metal.
She caught it just before it fell into a grinding machine.
Daniel grabbed her bruised shoulder and drove her against the railing.
“Your mother should have let the fire take you.”
A silver hammer flashed through the steam.
Margaret struck Daniel across the wrist, forcing him to release Amelia.
For one stunned moment, mother and daughter stared at each other across the vapor.
Then Harlan pulled a lever.
The platform split beneath them.
Amelia and Lucas fell into the black water channel below.
Above, Daniel aimed his gun at Vanessa.
Margaret stepped between them.
May you like
The shot echoed through the mill.
THE JADE SNAIL | A VALE FAMILY THRILLER
