The House Where Nobody Could Tell Them No
Chapter 8
The location was an abandoned observatory outside the city.
Adrian wanted police protection.
Elena agreed.
The twins were supposed to stay home.
They refused.
“This is our mother’s clue,” Iris said.
“You are twelve,” Adrian replied.
“So?”
“So you don’t understand the danger.”
June looked at him.
“Maybe that’s why we were dangerous before.”
Adrian fell silent.
The family left at dawn.
The observatory stood on a hill surrounded by pine trees.
Inside, they found old equipment and dust-covered desks.
Then Elena noticed something strange.
The building had electricity.
Someone was using it.
A monitor flickered.
A file appeared.
Celia Vale.
The screen displayed hundreds of documents.
Elena opened one.
It was a medical report.
Then another.
And another.
Celia had not been investigating only financial fraud.
She had discovered that someone had been manipulating medical records connected to wealthy families.
The scheme was larger than Vale Meridian.
Victor had been one part of it.
Daniel had been another.
But there was a third name.
Dr. Samuel Ward.
Elena froze.
Ward.
Her own father.
She hadn’t seen that name in years.
Her father had been a hospital administrator before he died.
She had always believed he had been dismissed for refusing to falsify records.
Apparently, there was more to the story.
A door opened behind them.
An elderly man stepped inside.
Elena recognized him immediately.
“Mr. Ward?”
Her father had once called him Dr. Samuel Ward.
Her uncle.
Her father’s older brother.
The man looked at her.
“I hoped you’d never find this.”
Elena couldn’t speak.
Adrian stepped forward.
“You knew Celia?”
Samuel nodded.
“I helped her.”
“Then why disappear?”
“Because I was afraid.”
Samuel explained.
Celia had discovered a network that altered medical records for influential clients.
People who wanted illnesses hidden.
People who wanted causes of death changed.
People who wanted inconvenient evidence erased.
Daniel had financed the network.
Victor had handled corporate money.
And Samuel had once been involved.
“I made one terrible mistake,” he said.
“You helped them?”
“For six months.”
“Why?”
“Because they threatened my family.”
Elena’s anger shook her voice.
“And my father?”
Samuel lowered his eyes.
“Your father discovered what I had done.”
“What happened to him?”
“He didn’t die naturally.”
Elena went still.
“He was killed.”
Adrian looked stunned.
Samuel continued.
“Your father copied evidence before they could destroy it. Celia received a copy.”
“Then where is it?”
Samuel looked at the twins.
“The girls have been carrying it for four years.”
Everyone stared at him.
June held up the porcelain rabbit.
Samuel nodded.
“The rabbit contains a memory card.”
Iris looked at the object.
“We knew it was important.”
“You didn’t know how important.”
Before anyone could open it, headlights appeared outside.
Several vehicles stopped.
Samuel looked through the window.
His face drained of color.
“They found us.”
Adrian called the police.
The observatory doors shook.
Elena grabbed the twins.
“Stay behind me.”
Adrian looked at the girls.
For once, he didn’t tell them to be brave.
He simply said:
“Stay together.”
Then the doors burst open.
