Chapter 15 - ANNA RETURNS
Anna Bennett stepped into the chapel.
Claire could not move.
For eleven years, she had imagined this moment in dreams.
Sometimes her mother ran toward her.
Sometimes Claire screamed.
Sometimes she woke before either of them spoke.
Reality was quieter.
Anna simply looked at her daughter and began to cry.
“Claire.”
Claire crossed the chapel in three steps.
She wrapped her arms around her mother.
Anna held her so tightly Claire could barely breathe.
“You’re alive.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re alive.”
Claire repeated it as if saying the words could make them permanent.
Richard’s men shifted.
Anna looked over Claire’s shoulder.
“You won’t shoot me.”
Richard’s expression hardened.
Anna held up her phone.
“Everything is already uploaded.”
“To where?”
“Federal investigators.”
Richard laughed.
“You expect me to believe you?”
“No.”
Anna pointed toward the cemetery gate.
Blue lights appeared beyond the chapel windows.
Sirens followed.
Richard’s face changed.
Vanessa had contacted federal investigators after showing Claire the Project Cedar files.
They had been building a case quietly.
Anna had supplied the missing evidence.
Agents flooded the cemetery.
Richard’s men lowered their weapons.
Richard remained still.
He looked at Eleanor.
“You betrayed me.”
Eleanor stared back.
“I should have done it thirty years ago.”
Richard was handcuffed.
As agents led him away, he turned toward Claire.
“You think this ends with me?”
Claire did not answer.
Richard smiled.
“Ask your mother why Jonathan created Project Cedar in the first place.”
Anna went pale.
Claire saw it.
Richard laughed.
“There it is.”
An agent pushed him forward.
Claire turned to Anna.
“What did he mean?”
Anna looked toward Ethan.
Then Eleanor.
Finally, she looked at Claire.
“Richard did terrible things with Project Cedar.”
“But he didn’t create it.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Who did?”
May you like
Anna whispered.
“Your father.”
