Chapter 10 - THE SECOND RECORDING
Madison held the recorder like a trophy.
Emily stood on the porch.
“Where’s Arthur?”
“Safe.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting until we talk.”
Ryan moved toward Madison.
“You broke into his office?”
Madison laughed.
“You’re suddenly concerned about ethics?”
Emily said, “Play it.”
Madison looked at her.
“You don’t know what’s on it.”
“Neither do you.”
Madison’s silence answered.
She had not cracked the encryption.
Emily’s grandmother had modified the device.
Arthur arrived twenty minutes later in a sheriff’s vehicle.
He was furious but unharmed.
Madison had entered his office using an old key belonging to Grant.
Sheriff Ross wanted to arrest her for trespassing.
Arthur stopped him.
“Not yet.”
Emily stared.
“Why?”
“Because I know how to open the recorder.”
Madison’s expression changed.
Arthur took it.
“Your grandmother used dates as passwords.”
Emily knew the date.
Her mother’s birthday.
The files opened.
One recording mattered.
Grant Blake and Emily’s grandmother.
Twenty-nine years earlier.
Grant:
“Your husband stole my father’s land.”
Grandmother:
“Then sue.”
Grant:
“We did.”
Grandmother:
“And you lost.”
Grant:
“Because Arthur buried the side agreement.”
Everyone looked at Arthur.
He went pale.
The recording continued.
Grandmother:
“Arthur did what?”
Grant:
“Ask him.”
Emily stopped playback.
She stared at Arthur.
“You buried evidence.”
Arthur’s shoulders sank.
“Yes.”
Madison smiled.
Finally.
Emily felt betrayed again.
“Why?”
Arthur said, “Because your grandfather paid me.”
Silence.
Emily whispered, “So the Blakes were right.”
“Partly.”
Madison stepped forward.
“Partly?”
Arthur looked at her.
“Your grandfather forged the second version of the mineral agreement.”
Madison froze.
“What?”
“The Calloways cheated the Blakes out of some rights. Then the Blakes created a broader document to claim rights they never owned.”
Emily stared between them.
Both families had lied.
Arthur continued.
“I buried the legitimate side agreement because Emily’s grandfather paid me. Years later, I discovered Grant had forged the broader deed. By then everyone had too much to lose.”
Madison looked furious.
“You’re lying.”
Arthur smiled sadly.
“You sound like Emily now.”
Madison grabbed the recorder.
Sheriff Ross stopped her.
Emily asked the question nobody wanted.
“Who legally owns the southern tract?”
Arthur answered.
“Emily owns the surface.”
“And the minerals?”
“Shared.”
“With the Blakes?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Arthur looked at Madison.
“Fifty-fifty.”
Madison’s entire justification changed in one sentence.
She did have rights.
Just not the rights she had tried to seize.
Ryan said, “Then the development can be renegotiated.”
Madison looked at him.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because there is no development.”
Everyone stared.
Madison removed her sunglasses.
“The gas project was a cover.”
Emily felt cold.
“For what?”
May you like
Madison looked at her belly.
“Ask Grant what’s buried under your land.”
