Chapter 6 - THE RED HOUSE
The red house stood beyond the northern tree line.
Alexander had passed the abandoned building for years.
He believed it belonged to the old groundskeeper.
Thomas Sterling had apparently built it.
Julian waited inside.
He did not run when Alexander entered.
He sat at a bare kitchen table.
A photograph of Thomas rested in front of him.
“You took your time.”
Alexander stayed near the doorway.
“You entered my house under a false name.”
“Mercer was my mother’s name.”
“You watched my daughter being abused.”
Julian looked down.
“Yes.”
“You had opportunities to tell me.”
“You were unconscious for six weeks.”
“And after?”
“Victoria controlled who reached you.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“You could have gone around her.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Julian looked directly at him.
“Because I didn’t know whether you were more like your father or your uncle.”
No excuse.
Only mistrust.
Alexander accepted the insult.
“Now you know.”
Julian looked toward the window.
“I’m starting to.”
He opened a drawer.
Inside were Rebecca’s notebooks.
Not financial records.
Not legal documents.
Names.
Dates.
Short observations.
Family conversations.
Rebecca had been trying to understand why Alexander’s ambush happened only weeks after she started asking about Thomas.
Julian explained.
The first theory blamed Edmund’s old loyalists.
Wrong.
Most were too old.
Several genuinely respected Alexander.
Rebecca found something else.
Someone inside the current family repeatedly asked when Alexander traveled without his children.
Someone had been preparing for his absence.
Alexander turned toward Marcus.
His brother had come with him.
Marcus stared.
“Don’t look at me.”
Julian did not.
He looked at Alexander.
“Rebecca never suspected Marcus ordered the attack.”
“Who?”
Julian pushed one notebook forward.
A name was circled.
Victoria Sterling.
Alexander did not move.
Marcus cursed.
Julian raised one hand.
“Rebecca didn’t think Victoria ordered the shooting either.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
“Then stop circling.”
“She thought Victoria created the opportunity.”
Victoria had privately summoned Alexander to an emergency family meeting across town on Sophia’s birthday.
Alexander left.
On the road, the ambush happened.
Victoria claimed she received the meeting request from an older associate.
Rebecca checked.
The associate never called.
Alexander stared.
“My mother invented the meeting.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Julian hesitated.
“Ask her.”
“No.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“You know.”
Julian looked toward Marcus.
Then answered.
Victoria wanted Alexander away from the estate for three hours.
Not killed.
Gone.
Because Rebecca planned to confront her that evening in front of several family elders.
Victoria wanted time to search Rebecca’s room and remove Thomas’s letters.
She invented the meeting.
Someone else learned Alexander would be traveling.
Then used it.
Alexander felt cold.
“Who knew?”
Victoria.
Rebecca.
Marcus.
Daniel.
Julian.
And one more person.
Clara Bennett.
Rebecca’s closest friend and Alexander’s cousin by marriage.
She had helped organize Sophia’s birthday dinner.
Alexander frowned.
“Clara?”
Julian shook his head.
“Not her.”
Then he looked toward Marcus.
Marcus went pale.
“No.”
Alexander turned.
Marcus backed away.
“Don’t.”
Julian spoke quietly.
“The sixth person was your wife.”
Alexander stared.
“That makes no sense.”
Julian nodded.
“Exactly.”
Rebecca had known the route because she asked Alexander to stop at the pharmacy on the way home.
The gunmen were waiting near that stop.
Alexander’s expression hardened.
“You’re saying Rebecca set me up?”
“No.”
Julian slid another note across the table.
Rebecca’s handwriting.
Someone used my phone.
Alexander looked at the date.
The night of the ambush.
Then Marcus whispered:
“Mom had access.”
Julian shook his head.
“Victoria was downstairs in front of twenty guests.”
“Then who?”
Julian looked toward the staircase.
A floorboard creaked above them.
Alexander drew his attention upward.
Someone was inside the red house.
Julian’s expression changed.
“I came alone.”
A woman stepped into view.
Alexander stopped breathing.
Rebecca’s younger sister, Evelyn Hart.
The family had been told she left the country after Rebecca’s funeral.
She looked directly at Alexander.
May you like
Then said:
“I used her phone.”
