บททั้งหมดของ Contracted to the wrong twin : บทที่ 41 - บทที่ 50

Chapter 42The EnvelopeElena got in the front seat and the driver pulled away immediately.Ethan opened the envelope.Inside were four documents folded together and a small memory card taped to the back of the last page. He unfolded everything carefully and held the first page under the light from his phone.Dan leaned over to read it at the same time.Judith watched their faces.Dan sat back first. “It is real,” he said quietly.Ethan kept reading. He went through all four pages slowly without saying anything. Then he held up the memory card.“This is the recording,” he said. “Cassel and my father. Four days before Gerald Thompson died.”The car was quiet.“We need a laptop,” Dan said.“Grace has one at the property,” Elena said from the front. “I saw it on the kitchen counter this morning.”“How long until we get back,” Judith asked.“Forty minutes,” the driver said. First words he had spoken all evening.Judith looked out of the window at the dark city going past.Peter Cassel. A

Chapter 44Morning AfterJudith woke up before Lily.That never happened.She lay there for a moment looking at the ceiling of the small room listening to the house. Quiet. Just birds outside and the sound of the wind settling down from last night.She picked up her phone.Six forty three in the morning.Fourteen missed calls. Eight messages. Three from numbers she did not know. Two from her mother. One from Sarah. One from Robert’s lawyer. One from a number she recognised after a moment as Marcus Kane.She sat up slowly.She opened Sarah’s message first.Cassel’s name is everywhere this morning. Police confirmed late last night they are expanding the investigation. Cassel’s office issued a statement denying everything. Nobody is buying it. Call me when you are up.She opened Robert’s lawyer next.Formal submission made to the police at midnight. Recording and all documents lodged. Detective assigned to case called me at six this morning. They want to speak with you today if possible.

Chapter 46:The InterviewThe police station was a plain building on a side street that looked like it could have been anything else. An office block. A council building. Nothing about the outside told you what happened inside.Ethan’s lawyer was waiting on the pavement when they pulled up. His name was George Farrell. Tall, late forties, the kind of man who had spent enough time in rooms like this that nothing about them made him nervous anymore. He shook hands with all three of them quickly and got straight to the point.“The detective leading the investigation is called Marsh,” he said. “She is experienced and she is thorough. She will be respectful but she will not leave gaps in her questions so do not leave gaps in your answers.” He looked at Judith directly. “Say what happened. In the order it happened. If you do not know something say you do not know. Do not guess.”“I understand,” Judith said.“Good.” He turned toward the entrance. “Robert’s lawyer is already inside. He came in

Chapter 48:JulianaJuliana arrived at six.Her car came up the gravel slowly and stopped near the front path. She sat in it for a moment before getting out. Judith could see her through the kitchen window. A woman gathering herself before walking into a room full of people who knew things about her that she had not chosen to share.Judith understood that feeling.She went to the front door and opened it before Juliana reached it.Juliana stopped on the path when she saw her.She looked tired. Her hair was pulled back and she had the kind of face that had been carrying too much for too long without anywhere to put it down.“Judith,” she said.“Come in,” Judith said. “It is cold.”Juliana came inside.Grace appeared immediately and took her coat and handed her tea before she had even sat down. Juliana looked at the cup in her hands like she was not sure what to do with someone being kind to her without conditions attached.Dan came in from the sitting room.They looked at each other acr

Chapter 50:Before SevenJudith heard him leave.She was not fully asleep when his door opened down the hall. Just that light half awake place where you can hear things without quite being in the world yet. Footsteps. Quiet and careful. The sound of someone trying not to wake the house.She looked at her phone.Six twenty two.She lay there for a moment listening to the sounds below. The front door. A car on the gravel. Then nothing. Just the birds starting up outside and the house settling back into its morning quiet.She got up.Grace was already in the kitchen when Judith came downstairs.Of course she was.“He left twenty minutes ago,” Grace said without turning around from the cooker. “Ate nothing. I tried.”Judith sat down. “That sounds right.”Grace put tea in front of her and sat down across the table for once instead of staying at the cooker.She looked at Judith directly. “How are you feeling this morning.”“Better,” Judith said. “Clearer.”Grace nodded. “Good.” She wrapped h