Chapter 10 - THE EMERALD
Andrew returned to the west balcony for the first time since Caroline’s funeral.
The railing had been replaced.
The stone floor had been repaired.
But he could still see the valley below.
Caroline had fallen nearly thirty feet onto the terrace.
She had died before paramedics arrived.
Andrew closed his eyes.
For months he had imagined her alone.
Now he knew Alex had been nearby.
He knew Lucinda had been there.
And he knew the fall had probably begun with a fight over an emerald pendant.
Detective Cole arrived with a forensic reconstruction team.
They measured distances from the balcony.
They examined old photographs.
Then one investigator pointed toward a rain gutter beneath the balcony edge.
“Was that searched?”
Andrew looked at Cole.
Cole checked the original report.
“No mention.”
The gutter emptied into an underground drainage channel.
Workers removed several sections.
Hours passed.
Nothing.
Then a technician discovered a small metal object wedged behind an old grate.
Not the pendant.
A broken silver clasp.
Andrew recognized it.
Caroline’s necklace clasp.
That meant the chain had broken near the balcony.
The pendant could have fallen separately.
They expanded the search.
At dusk, a technician called Cole over.
He held a mud-covered green stone between gloved fingers.
Andrew stopped breathing.
The emerald pendant.
It had been trapped inside a narrow drainage recess for seven months.
Lucinda had never taken it.
She had probably believed it went over the balcony with Caroline.
Cole sealed it immediately.
Back at the police laboratory, specialists opened the pendant.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
Caroline had hidden it beneath the emerald setting.
Andrew watched as technicians copied the data.
Files appeared.
Account records.
Emails.
Audio.
Video.
The last file was dated the night Caroline died.
9:11 p.m.
Caroline had apparently activated a recorder on her phone and copied the audio to the card automatically.
Andrew listened beside Detective Cole.
Lucinda’s voice came first.
“Give me the necklace.”
Caroline answered.
“No.”
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what you did.”
“You stole from Henry.”
“You stole from Alex.”
“You forged our signatures.”
Lucinda’s voice became colder.
“You think Andrew will believe you?”
“He won’t have to.”
“I already sent copies.”
There was a movement.
Caroline shouted.
Then Lucinda said something that made Andrew’s blood run cold.
“You should have left my past buried with your father.”
The recording shifted.
Footsteps.
A door opening.
Wind.
Caroline breathing heavily.
Then another voice.
Small.
Terrified.
“Mommy?”
Alex.
Caroline said, “Go inside, sweetheart.”
Lucinda shouted, “Give it to me.”
There was a sharp metallic sound.
Caroline screamed.
Then Lucinda said, “You always thought you were better than me.”
A struggle followed.
And finally Caroline screamed Andrew’s name.
The audio stopped.
No confession.
No clear statement of pushing her.
But enough to destroy the accident story forever.
Andrew stared at the screen.
Cole stood.
“We can arrest her now for financial crimes and obstruction.”
“And Caroline?”
“We’re closer.”
Andrew looked at her.
“I don’t want closer.”
Cole met his eyes.
“I know.”
Andrew thought of Alex.
He thought of Elizabeth.
May you like
He thought of Henry Morrow.
“Then find the final piece.”
