A FAMILY UNDER SUSPICION
1347 Words
The photograph on Lucas’s tablet seemed to drain all warmth from the room.
Amelia stared at the image in disbelief.
A silver cufflink bearing the Hart family crest lay beside Ethan Cole’s body, partially hidden beneath a pool of rainwater. The engraved hawk on its surface was unmistakable.
Her uncle’s crest.
Her family’s crest.
“This has to be planted,” Amelia said quietly.
No one answered immediately.
Lucas lowered the tablet. “The police found it less than an hour ago.”
Adrian remained still beside the fireplace, his expression unreadable. Yet Amelia noticed the tension in his shoulders.
He was thinking.
Calculating.
Trying to determine whether she was involved.
The realization hurt more than she expected.
Richard Hart abruptly stood.
“This is absurd.” His voice trembled with outrage. “Someone is framing me.”
Victoria looked toward her brother. “Richard, do you still have your cufflinks?”
Richard hesitated.
Too long.
Amelia noticed.
So did Adrian.
“Of course I do,” Richard said finally.
“Then show us,” Adrian said.
The room fell silent.
Richard turned sharply. “Excuse me?”
“If your cufflinks are intact, proving your innocence should be simple.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“You have no authority in my house.”
“No,” Adrian agreed calmly. “But the police do.”
“Are you accusing me?”
“I am saying someone wants us to believe you are guilty.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
Amelia stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Both men looked at her.
“My uncle has already been questioned twice. None of us are thinking clearly.”
Richard visibly relaxed.
Adrian did not.
His gaze lingered on Amelia for several seconds before he looked away.
“I’ll leave,” Adrian said.
Lucas frowned. “Adrian—”
“We’ve done enough for tonight.”
Without another word, Adrian headed toward the door.
For reasons Amelia couldn’t explain, she followed him.
The night air was cool.
The front driveway lay empty except for Adrian’s waiting car.
He stopped beside it.
“You think my uncle did it.”
Adrian remained silent for a moment.
“I think someone wants us fighting each other.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is the only honest one I have.”
Amelia folded her arms.
“You still don’t trust me.”
Adrian looked directly at her.
“I barely know you.”
The honesty stung.
“Fair enough.”
He studied her expression.
“You expected something else?”
“No.”
Amelia looked away toward the dark gardens.
“I suppose I expected that after everything we’ve discovered, you would at least believe I had nothing to do with this.”
Adrian’s voice softened slightly.
“I don’t believe you harmed Ethan Cole.”
She looked back at him.
“Then what do you believe?”
“I believe you are hiding something.”
Amelia felt her heartbeat quicken.
Her father’s investigation.
The flash drive.
The recording.
Secrets.
Far too many secrets.
“So are you,” she replied.
For the first time, Adrian almost smiled.
“You’re learning.”
A strange silence settled between them.
Neither seemed eager to end it.
Finally, Adrian spoke.
“Come with me tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“Blackwood Estate.”
Amelia stared.
“You said your father owns it.”
“He does.”
“Then why would we go there?”
“Because someone broke into the property yesterday.”
A chill traveled down her spine.
“What?”
“My security team discovered signs of forced entry.”
Amelia immediately thought of her father’s recording.
The evidence isn’t inside the Kingston company. It’s hidden beneath Blackwood.
Someone else knew.
Someone else was searching.
“When do we leave?” she asked.
“Seven in the morning.”
He opened the car door.
Then paused.
“Amelia.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t tell anyone where we’re going.”
Before she could ask why, he entered the car and drove away.
Amelia barely slept.
By six thirty the following morning, she stood near the front entrance dressed simply in dark jeans and a cream sweater.
Victoria appeared from the kitchen.
“You’re leaving early.”
Amelia hesitated.
“I’m meeting Adrian.”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“I never imagined saying this, but I think that’s becoming a good thing.”
Amelia almost laughed.
“You barely know him.”
“Neither do you.”
Victoria approached.
“But when he was here yesterday, he watched everyone except you.”
Amelia frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means he trusts you more than he realizes.”
Before Amelia could respond, headlights illuminated the driveway.
Adrian had arrived.
The journey to Blackwood took almost two hours.
Most of it passed in silence.
Amelia watched the countryside unfold beyond the window.
Eventually, she spoke.
“Why did your father keep Blackwood?”
Adrian kept his eyes on the road.
“My mother loved the estate.”
“Did he love her?”
The question escaped before Amelia could stop herself.
Adrian was quiet for several seconds.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a sad answer.”
“Most truths are.”
Amelia glanced at him.
“You really don’t talk about your family, do you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because discussing the past doesn’t change it.”
The finality in his voice ended the conversation.
Shortly afterward, the estate appeared.
Blackwood was magnificent.
A sprawling stone manor surrounded by ancient trees and rolling hills.
Despite its beauty, the property felt abandoned.
Forgotten.
The front gates stood partially open.
Adrian frowned.
“They should be locked.”
He parked immediately.
The silence surrounding the estate felt unnatural.
No birds.
No wind.
Nothing.
A security guard hurried toward them.
“Mr. Kingston.”
“What happened?”
The man looked uneasy.
“We searched the grounds again this morning.”
“And?”
“We found this.”
He handed Adrian a photograph.
Adrian’s expression darkened instantly.
Amelia reached for it.
The image showed freshly disturbed earth near the old greenhouse.
Someone had been digging.
Adrian looked toward the distant structure.
“We’ll start there.”
The greenhouse sat behind the main house.
Most of its glass panels had shattered years earlier.
Inside, overgrown vines covered nearly everything.
Amelia carefully stepped through the debris.
“What exactly are we looking for?”
“I have no idea.”
They searched quietly for nearly twenty minutes.
Nothing.
Frustration began replacing anticipation.
Then Amelia noticed something strange.
One section of the stone floor looked newer.
Recently repaired.
She crouched.
“Adrian.”
He joined her immediately.
“What is it?”
She brushed away dirt.
Beneath it lay a metal ring embedded in the stone.
Adrian’s expression changed.
Together they pulled.
The stone slab shifted.
Revealing a narrow staircase descending into darkness.
Neither spoke.
Finally, Adrian said quietly,
“My mother never mentioned a basement.”
Amelia looked into the darkness below.
“Maybe she didn’t know.”
Adrian switched on his flashlight.
The staircase led into a hidden underground room.
Dust covered everything.
Shelves lined the walls.
Old filing cabinets stood against one corner.
Someone had clearly searched the room recently.
Drawers hung open.
Documents littered the floor.
Amelia’s pulse quickened.
They weren’t first.
Someone else had already found it.
She moved toward a fallen cabinet.
Most files were missing.
One remained.
She opened it.
Inside lay photographs.
Dozens of them.
Every photograph featured the same people.
Edward Hart.
Harrison Kingston.
And Damian Kingston.
Together.
Meeting secretly.
Over many years.
Amelia stared in shock.
Her father had known Adrian’s father.
Well.
Very well.
“What is this?” she whispered.
Adrian had gone pale.
Because in the final photograph, taken only weeks before Edward Hart’s death, the three men weren’t alone.
Standing beside them was Sebastian Kingston.
And someone had written a single sentence across the back.
Find out what Sebastian knows before they silence him.
- Writer
