At 10:43 a.m., Phoebe walked down the path.
I knew from her face.
“They found remains.”
I closed my eyes.
Beside me, Rebecca began crying.
Phoebe crouched in front of me.
“There’s something else.”
I almost laughed.
There was always something else.
“What?”
“They found a metal document case.”
Rebecca looked up.
“What case?”
“It was buried separately.”
Police opened it later that afternoon.
Inside were ledgers sealed in waxed cloth.
Letters.
Bank records.
And one handwritten confession.
Not Cordelia’s.
Malcolm Vale’s.
Apparently guilt had reached him before death.
He admitted to fraud.
Admitted that Cordelia had been involved.
Admitted helping her conceal Eleanor’s body.
And admitted something nobody—not even Grandfather—had known.
Malcolm Vale’s boating accident had not been an accident.
Cordelia had killed him too.
He had threatened to confess.
She made sure he never could.
By midnight, Cordelia Vale had been arrested in connection with multiple crimes.
