Single Father Helped His Elderly Neighbor Every Day—Then the Businesswoman Who Dismissed Him Opened Her Door
Chapter 8
By afternoon, the road narrowed between two forests.
The horses grew nervous.
Samuel slowed.
Margaret noticed.
“What is it?”
“Someone is behind us.”
They turned.
Nothing.
Then an arrow struck the tree beside Margaret’s head.
Samuel shouted.
“Down!”
Three riders emerged.
Samuel pulled Clara from her horse.
Margaret drew a small pistol from beneath her cloak.
The first attacker charged.
She fired.
The man fell.
Samuel grabbed a fallen branch and struck another rider from the saddle.
The third fled.
Samuel wanted to pursue.
Margaret stopped him.
“No.”
“He’ll return.”
“Exactly.”
They rode until night.
The northern judge’s estate appeared before dawn.
But the gates were closed.
A servant met them.
“The judge is ill.”
Margaret handed him a sealed letter.
“Give him this.”
Minutes later, the gates opened.
The judge, an old friend of Margaret’s father, listened to their story.
When he saw the ledger, his expression changed.
“I wondered when this day would come.”
Samuel frowned.
“You knew?”
“I knew your father was investigating.”
“Why didn’t you help him?”
The judge looked ashamed.
“Because I was afraid.”
Samuel understood.
Fear had protected the criminals for twenty years.
But the judge had one thing Margaret needed.
A sealed statement from her father.
It named Thomas Hawthorne directly.
It also named the men who had followed him to the mill.
Samuel read it.
Then stopped.
One name was missing.
“Who is this?”
The judge looked away.
“Your father’s closest associate.”
“Who?”
“Edmund Vale.”
Margaret went pale.
“That is impossible.”
The judge shook his head.
“Your father trusted him.”
“Then why isn’t he in the ledger?”
“Because your father discovered his betrayal too late.”
Samuel looked at Margaret.
“Where is Vale now?”
The judge answered quietly.
“Your uncle’s chief adviser.”
The room fell silent.
Thomas had not been acting alone.
And someone much closer to the Hawthorne family had helped him.
