Chapter 10 - AUNT FRANCES
Frances Blackwood had been smiling all day.
She had welcomed guests.
Adjusted Portia’s veil.
Corrected the florist.
Told Cedric his mother would have been proud.
Now she stood beside the grand staircase holding a glass of champagne.
Cedric walked toward her with the Project Orchid page in his hand.
“What is this?”
Frances read the initials.
Her smile faded.
“Old nonsense.”
“Your initials are listed as primary controller.”
“Anybody could type that.”
“Mother hid it.”
Frances looked at Flora.
“So this is what happens when servants start digging through family property.”
Flora’s face tightened.
Cedric said, “Careful.”
Frances blinked.
He had never spoken to her that way.
“You’re upset.”
“My wedding was a corporate trap, my mother was drugged before she died, and Sofia Reyes was labeled neutralized.”
Frances lowered her glass.
“You think I killed them?”
“I think you know who did.”
She looked at Portia.
Then Graham.
Then Martin’s empty chair.
“You are surrounded by people who benefited from your mother’s death.”
“And you?”
Frances smiled sadly.
“I benefited from keeping this family alive.”
There it was.
Not denial.
Justification.
Mara stepped forward.
“Mrs. Blackwood, I need your phone.”
Frances handed it over without protest.
Too easily.
Alonzo noticed.
“She wiped it.”
Mara checked.
Factory reset forty minutes earlier.
Cedric stared at his aunt.
Frances said, “I value privacy.”
Then the estate lights went out.
Guests screamed.
Emergency lamps flickered on.
A gunshot cracked from the east hall.
Alonzo threw himself over Maisie.
May you like
When the lights returned, Frances was gone.
And Graham Vale was bleeding on the floor.
