Chapter 9 - EMILY’S SECRET
Emily knew the moment had arrived.
She had hoped it never would.
Daniel looked at her.
“Emily?”
She folded her hands in front of her.
“My mother worked here.”
Margaret’s head lifted.
Vanessa smiled wider.
Daniel frowned.
“When?”
“Twenty-two years ago.”
Margaret stared at Emily more closely.
Then recognition appeared.
“Caroline Carter.”
Emily nodded.
Daniel looked between them.
“You knew her?”
Margaret answered.
“She worked for your father.”
Emily corrected her.
“She worked for the Ashford Foundation.”
Margaret’s face tightened.
Vanessa leaned back.
“There it is.”
Daniel looked at Emily.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because my mother made me promise I wouldn’t.”
“Why?”
Emily took a breath.
“When I was twelve, she was accused of stealing money from the foundation.”
Margaret looked away.
Daniel froze.
Emily continued.
“She lost her job.”
“She lost every reference she had.”
“Nobody hired her after that.”
“My mother spent years saying she had been framed.”
Daniel’s eyes slowly moved toward Margaret.
Emily continued.
“She died three years ago.”
“Before she died, she gave me a box of old papers.”
“One of them showed that the money she supposedly stole had been transferred after she had already been fired.”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“So you came here looking for proof.”
Emily nodded.
“Yes.”
Vanessa clapped slowly.
“There’s your innocent housekeeper.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“She took a job.”
“To investigate your family.”
Emily looked at Daniel.
“I never stole anything.”
“I never copied private files.”
“I never entered locked rooms.”
“I only wanted to understand what happened to my mother.”
Margaret stood abruptly.
“This has nothing to do with tonight.”
Emily stared at her.
“It has everything to do with tonight.”
Daniel watched his mother.
“What happened to Caroline?”
Margaret’s voice shook.
“That was decades ago.”
“What happened?”
Margaret did not answer.
Emily reached into her pocket.
She removed a folded letter.
“My mother wrote this before she died.”
Daniel accepted it.
The final paragraph contained one sentence underlined twice.
Margaret Ashford knew I was innocent.
May you like
Daniel slowly raised his eyes.
His mother had gone completely still.
