Chapter 10 - Anna Reed
All our assumptions shifted again.
Anna was not simply the endangered bookkeeper.
At least not anymore.
Michael had found her six years earlier.
She admitted Robert and Carol helped her escape.
She admitted Halston wanted the archive.
But over time, Anna changed.
Twenty-eight years of running turned into obsession.
She believed exposing Halston publicly would destroy innocent families whose finances had passed through fraudulent structures.
So she wanted a quieter solution.
Control the archive.
Use it as leverage.
Force settlements.
Return money selectively.
Carol disagreed.
She wanted independent investigators involved.
Their friendship fractured.
“Mom is hiding from Anna?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Carol has the archive location.”
Margaret whispered:
“I knew it.”
Michael continued.
Anna did not know exactly where Robert hid the master records.
Carol did.
But Carol refused to surrender them until there was a lawful process.
Then Michael made his biggest confession.
“I helped Anna watch the house.”
Lucy closed her eyes.
I stared at the phone.
“You took the photographs.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I thought you had the key.”
“You terrified Lucy.”
“I told her enough to protect you.”
“Not enough.”
Silence.
He knew.
Then Steven asked:
“Where are you?”
Michael breathed.
“I’m close.”
“Come here.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because someone followed me.”
“Halston?”
“No.”
“Anna?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Michael hesitated.
“Carol.”
I stopped breathing.
“My mother followed you?”
“She thinks I’m working for Anna.”
“Are you?”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
Michael had been playing both sides.
Trying to recover his mother.
Trying to protect her.
Trying to stop her.
Maybe trying to profit.
No one in this story remained clean.
Then he said:
“Emily, the key in your necklace doesn’t open an archive.”
“What?”
“It opens the old panic room.”
Steven stared.
“We don't have a panic room.”
Michael laughed softly.
“Yes, you do.”
“Where?”
“Under the kitchen.”
I felt cold.
Our kitchen had been renovated before we moved in.
Steven’s father did the work.
Michael continued:
“The archive isn’t inside.”
“What is?”
Pause.
“Someone.”
Lucy whispered:
“Who?”
Michael answered:
“The person Robert hid there twenty-eight years ago.”
Impossible.
Anna had escaped.
Carol lived.
So who had remained beneath the house?
Then Michael said:
May you like
“Anna Reed was never the only woman Robert was protecting.”
The line went dead.
