Chapter 9 - The Lake House.

Detective Briggs told Daniel not to follow Evelyn.

Daniel agreed and then followed her anyway.

Briggs caught up with him thirty miles outside the city and forced him to pull over.

“If you contaminate evidence, I will personally handcuff you to my car.”

Daniel gripped the steering wheel.

“She is going to destroy something.”

“Then we do this legally.”

A judge approved an emergency search warrant after hearing the new evidence involving Victor, Tessa, and Robert’s recording.

By the time police reached the lake house, Evelyn’s Mercedes was parked outside.

Arthur Bell’s car was beside it.

The front door stood open.

Briggs entered first with two officers.

Daniel was ordered to remain outside.

He lasted less than a minute.

A crash sounded from inside.

Then shouting.

Daniel ran through the doorway.

The house smelled like smoke.

Arthur stood near the fireplace holding a metal box.

Evelyn was throwing papers into the flames.

“Stop!”

Briggs rushed forward.

Arthur dropped the box.

Evelyn turned toward Daniel.

For a moment, mother and son simply stared at each other across the room where Robert had spent his final night.

“What are you burning?”

Evelyn’s voice was calm.

“Private family records.”

Briggs pulled her away from the fireplace.

An officer extinguished the flames.

Several documents were partially burned but readable.

One was an invoice from a private medical service dated the week Robert died.

Another was a receipt for injectable potassium chloride.

Daniel felt sick.

“Why was that here?”

Evelyn’s face finally cracked.

“Your father was ill.”

“No, he was not.”

“He had episodes you did not know about.”

“Then why did you tell me it was sudden?”

“Because you were already grieving.”

Daniel laughed bitterly.

“You buried him before I could even get home.”

Arthur stepped forward.

“Daniel, do not confuse paperwork with murder.”

Briggs pointed toward him.

“Do not touch anything.”

Police opened the metal box Arthur had dropped.

Inside were old medical notes, insurance documents, and a flash drive.

There was also a handwritten letter sealed in plastic.

Daniel recognized his father’s handwriting instantly.

The envelope said FOR DANIEL ONLY.

Briggs would not let him open it yet.

It became evidence.

Then an officer called from upstairs.

“Detective, you need to see this.”

In a locked cabinet behind the master-bedroom wall, police found a second phone.

The device had been powered off for years.

Its contact list included Arthur Bell, Evelyn Carter, and one more name.

Victor Lane.

Daniel stared at the old number.

Victor had known his family long before his short employment at Carter Properties.

Briggs checked the message history.

Most had been deleted.

One recovered draft remained from the night Robert died.

It had never been sent.

The message was addressed to Evelyn.

The old phone was bagged as evidence while technicians searched for recoverable data.

Daniel stood in his father's bedroom and noticed faint scratches around the hidden cabinet.

Someone had opened and closed it many times.

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Whatever Robert had hidden there had been important enough to revisit, but not important enough to save him.

HE'S STILL BREATHING.