Chapter 19 - THE FINAL CONFESSION
Richard Vale was charged with conspiracy, homicide, fraud, obstruction, and multiple crimes connected to Project Cedar.
Three directors were arrested.
Two resigned.
Dr. Reed survived surgery and agreed to testify.
Vanessa surrendered control of Whitmore security and gave investigators everything she had collected.
The headlines lasted for weeks.
But Claire cared about only one unfinished question.
Why had Eleanor pushed her?
Not the explanation about the ledge.
Not panic.
The real reason.
Claire visited Eleanor two days before Eleanor was scheduled to testify before a grand jury.
They sat across from each other in an empty conference room.
“You knew the ledge would catch me.”
Claire said.
“Yes.”
“But you also knew I could have missed it.”
“Yes.”
“Why risk it?”
Eleanor stared at her hands.
“Because Richard had a sniper across the garden.”
Claire froze.
“He had orders to shoot you if you entered Jonathan’s study.”
Claire remembered the ballroom.
The terrace.
The angle of the windows.
“You pushed me out of his line of sight.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Richard’s man was listening through my earpiece.”
Claire stared at her.
Eleanor touched the side of her ear.
“He had ordered me to bring you onto the terrace.”
“He wanted your death to look like an accident.”
Claire’s anger shifted into something more complicated.
“You still could have killed me.”
“I know.”
Eleanor looked up.
“And I will spend the rest of my life knowing that.”
Claire stood.
At the door, she stopped.
“Why did you save me?”
Eleanor’s eyes filled.
“Because the first time Richard told me to destroy Anna Bennett, I obeyed.”
“The second time he told me to destroy her daughter.”
Eleanor swallowed.
“I finally remembered what kind of person I had once wanted to be.”
Claire left without answering.
That evening she met Anna at the cemetery.
Together, they stood before the empty grave.
Anna touched the headstone.
“Do you want it removed?”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
Anna looked surprised.
Claire placed her hand on the stone.
“The woman I thought you were died here.”
“The mother I have now is someone I have to learn again.”
Anna nodded through tears.
“I’ll take whatever you can give me.”
Claire looked toward her.
“For now, that’s the truth.”
May you like
Anna managed a small smile.
“That’s a beginning.”
