Chapter 6 - The Secret Witness
I stood in the freezing mud, my bare feet completely numb, my body trembling from exhaustion and the physical trauma of childbirth. Clara was crying now, a loud, piercing sound that seemed to infuriate Beatrice even more.
"You won't shoot me, Beatrice," I said, taking a slow step forward, trying to draw her attention away from Maya and Quincy who were creeping toward the shadow of the SUV. "If you shoot me here, the noise will echo through the valley. The logging crews will be here at dawn. You can't cover up a double homicide in the middle of a public forest."
"You underestimate my reach, child," Beatrice sneered, raising the revolver, her finger tightening on the trigger. "The sheriff of this county owes his career to my late husband's campaign donations. This will be ruled a tragic case of postpartum psychosis—a mother who lost her mind, killed her baby, and fled into the woods."
"What about Sarah’s baby, Beatrice?" I shouted, my voice ringing out through the pine trees. "Did you tell the sheriff about that one too? Did you tell him that Thomas’s first son is buried under the floorboards of the Vance mausoleum?"
Beatrice's face hardened into a mask of pure, unadulterated malice. "Sarah was a fool, just like you. She thought a little piece of paper from an adoption agency could destroy fifty years of family legacy. I took care of her, and I will take care of you."
"I know you will," I said, a cold, triumphant smile slowly spreading across my face despite the rain. "Which is why I’m glad you just said all of that on a live satellite feed."
I shifted my arm slightly, revealing the small, waterproof baby monitor I had slipped into Clara’s blanket before leaving the cabin. The green lights on the monitor were flashing brightly.
From the shadows behind the SUV, a voice spoke through a bullhorn, loud and deafening, shattering the silence of the forest.
"Beatrice Vance! Drop your weapon and step away from the vehicle! State Police! You are under arrest for attempted murder, kidnapping, and corporate fraud!"
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A dozen bright tactical searchlights illuminated the clearing, blinding Beatrice instantly. She shrieked, dropping the revolver into the mud as a team of state troopers swarmed the driveway, tackling her to the ground before she could even wipe the muddy water from her face.
Led by Detective Marcus Ruiz—the same honest detective who had been investigating Vance International’s financial anomalies for months—the police moved in with absolute precision. Maya had used her phone to stream the baby monitor audio directly to his unit the moment we arrived at the cabin.
