Chapter 6 - Echoes from the Past
While the officers began searching the lower floor, Detective Miller, Mark, and I went upstairs to the master bedroom. Mark walked like a man walking to his execution, entirely broken.
“Mark,” I said as we walked down the hallway. “Ethan told us about the night Sarah died.”
Mark stopped dead in his tracks. He turned to me, his eyes wide with sheer horror. “No... no, Mom, he couldn’t have...”
“He saw her, Mark,” I said, my voice trembling with suppressed rage. “He saw Melissa put something in Sarah’s medicine. And he said you knew.”
Mark slid down the wall, putting his hands over his face, sobbing uncontrollably. “I didn’t know until it was too late! I swear to God, Mom, I didn’t know!”
“Tell me the truth, Mark!” I yelled, unable to keep my composure any longer. “Tell me before the police find whatever she’s hiding!”
“Sarah found out Melissa was stealing from her company!” Mark sobbed, looking up with eyes full of ruin. “Melissa was Sarah’s financial manager before we got married! Sarah was going to report her. Then Sarah got sick... the doctors said it was her heart. But a week after the funeral, Melissa showed me a letter Sarah had written, detailing everything—and then Melissa threatened to ruin me, to claim I was her accomplice, if I didn’t marry her and give her access to the trust!”
“You married the woman who murdered your wife to save your own reputation?” I asked, disgust choking my words.
“She threatened Ethan!” Mark cried. “She said if I didn’t play along, she’d make sure Ethan took the blame or suffered an 'accident'! I tried to protect him by keeping him quiet! I thought if he obeyed her rules, she’d leave him alone!”
“You didn’t protect him,” I said, tears of disappointment streaming down my face. “You sacrificed him to save yourself.”
Detective Miller stepped forward, placing a hand on Mark’s shoulder. “Mark, you need to tell us where the records are kept right now.”
Mark pointed toward the walk-in closet. “Under the floorboards in the back corner. The combination is Sarah’s birthday. There’s a USB drive inside. Sarah recorded everything before she went into a coma.”
Just as Detective Miller moved toward the closet, a sharp crash echoed from downstairs, followed by the sound of an officer shouting, “Stop! Put that down!”
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We rushed out of the room and down the stairs to see Melissa struggling with two officers in the dining room. She had attempted to throw a pile of documents into the gas fireplace, but an officer had managed to tackle her away from the flames.
“You’re all insane!” Melissa screamed, her hair disheveled, her eyes wild with madness as she was pinned against the floor. “It’s my money! Sarah was weak! Mark is weak! I earned every cent of it!”
