Chapter 8 - CHARLES CAME HOME THROUGH THE BACK DOOR
Fourteen days after his own funeral, Charles came home.
Not through the front gates.
Through the kitchen.
Evelyn was standing at the island with Mara when the housekeeper screamed.
Evelyn turned.
Charles stood in the doorway.
Thin.
Unshaven.
Wearing borrowed clothes.
Alive.
For one second she could not move.
Then she ran.
She hit him before she hugged him.
One open-handed strike against his chest.
“YOU LET ME THINK YOU WERE DEAD!”
Charles caught her wrists gently.
“I know.”
She hit him again.
Then collapsed into him.
He held her.
Neither spoke for a long time.
When Evelyn finally pulled back, she touched his face.
“Where were you?”
He told them.
After waking in the cottage, Charles pretended to be more confused than he was.
The nurse assigned to him, Sarah Nolan, realized he was oriented.
She also realized Preston’s instructions were wrong.
When Charles told her he had been declared dead, she panicked.
Then helped him leave.
Sarah disappeared because she feared retaliation.
They moved between motels while Charles used borrowed devices to contact Evelyn.
Why not go directly to police?
He admitted the truth.
“I didn’t know if Mara was clean.”
Mara raised an eyebrow.
Charles looked embarrassed.
“Sorry.”
“Reasonable,” she said.
Then his expression darkened.
“There’s something none of you know.”
Evelyn’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
“The loans were not Preston’s original idea.”
Grant looked up.
May you like
Charles continued.
“Someone outside the family designed the whole structure.”
