Chapter 5 - THE VOICE ON THE RECORDING
Marcus set a small recorder on the table.
The first voice was Henry’s, younger but unmistakable.
The second was Juliette’s.
“If she really is Caroline, a test changes everything.”
“That is the point,” Henry said on the recording.
“No. The point is that my father cannot survive another collapse. The company cannot survive it. We have already moved the shares.”
“Then move them back.”
A pause.
Juliette’s recorded voice became colder.
“You are not listening. Caroline Mercer is dead. The state says so. Leave it that way.”
Grant went still.
Dad sat down hard.
I had imagined my sister exposed and my father finally seeing what was stolen. I had not imagined how empty victory could feel, because another memory was pushing through.
Smoke.
A steel service door.
My hands slamming against it.
Juliette’s voice on the other side.
I’m sorry.
I looked at her.
“Did you leave me in the east corridor?”
Her eyes snapped to mine.
Marcus turned. “Caroline?”
“I remember the door.”
Juliette’s lips parted.
“I remember you outside it.”
“That is not what happened.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
She shook her head.
Nobody moved.
Finally, she whispered, “We were arguing.”
“About what?”
“Our mother’s trust.”
The memory sharpened. Papers in my hands. Juliette blocking the hallway. An alarm starting somewhere far away.
“You wanted me to sign something,” I said.
“I wanted you to stop accusing me of things you didn’t understand.”
“Then the smoke came.”
Her shoulders dropped.
“We ran. The service door swung between us.”
“You were outside.”
“Yes.”
“And I was inside.”
“Yes.”
“Did you open it?”
She began to cry.
“No.”
A coldness moved through me.
Marcus stepped closer. “Why not?”
Juliette wiped her face with the back of her hand.
May you like
“Because someone had chained it from the other side.”
And suddenly, the fire was no longer just my sister’s crime.
