PAGE 4 — THE WILL

The following morning, the police arrived.

They searched the property.

They searched the gardens.

They searched the lake.

Nothing.

No sign of Edward.

Then one of the officers discovered footprints beneath the blue-room window.

Two different sets.

One belonged to Edward.

The other belonged to someone else.

Thomas was furious.

“You’re saying someone climbed through the window?”

The officer nodded.

“Looks that way.”

“Who?”

“We don’t know.”

Daniel watched from across the room.

Then he quietly said:

“There is something you should know.”

Everyone turned toward him.

“Your father changed his will three days ago.”

Eleanor stared at him.

“What did he change?”

Daniel hesitated.

“He removed someone from it.”

Thomas immediately looked at Charlotte.

Charlotte looked at her mother.

Then everyone looked at Ruth.

Ruth felt her stomach tighten.

Thomas stepped toward Daniel.

“Who?”

Daniel reached into his suitcase.

But before he could answer, a gunshot echoed from outside.

Everyone ducked.

The window shattered.

Daniel dropped the suitcase.

Thomas grabbed Charlotte and pulled her behind the sofa.

Another shot.

Then silence.

When they looked outside, nobody was there.

But on the grass beneath the window was a small piece of blue fabric.

Ruth recognized it immediately.

It came from a dress.

A dress she had seen Charlotte wearing the night before.

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