The Silent Guest

Chapter Two (continued)

Rachel stared at the document, her mind racing.

Adam Goodman.

Another heir. Another secret.

She flipped the birth certificate over—typed on the back was a single line:

"If anything happens to me, find him. He's the only one who knows the truth."

"Sonia," Rachel said sharply, "Did Laura ever talk about Adam? Ever mention a brother?"

Sonia shook her head, eyes tight. "No. But now… some things make sense. She became increasingly paranoid over the last six months. Changed her will. Said she was being watched. That 'someone from the past' had come back."

Marianne drew a sharp breath. "The uncle…"

Rachel's eyes flicked between them. "Vincent?"

Marianne nodded. "Vincet disappeared after Richard died, but there were… rumors. That he'd taken something that belonged to the family. Something Richard hid. There was talk of a hidden will. Or a journal. Laura's mother once claimed Vincent forged documents to bury it."

Rachel's gaze returned to the hidden room, the dust disturbed, the cigar smoke still lingering. "So someone returns after years. Laura gets threatening letters. She hides a birth certificate and sends a secret summons to her lawyer the night she dies."

She exhaled. "Someone's tying up loose ends."

A low beep came from downstairs—Lambert from forensics had returned. Rachel excused herself and descended, heart pounding with new urgency.

He held up a small plastic vial. "We lifted a partial fingerprint from the photo envelope." He paused. "It's not Laura's."

"Do we have a match?"

"Working on it. But there's something else. We found a second playing card."

Rachel stiffened. "Where?"

"In the study upstairs. Tucked inside an old book—The Art of War. It's the queen of hearts."

She blinked. "Two cards. Two symbols."

Queen of hearts. Ace of spades.

Love and death.

A pattern, or a message only the killer understood.

Just then, a uniformed officer entered through the rain, breathless. "Detective Kennedy—someone just showed up at the front gate. Says he's here for Laura Goodman."

Rachel narrowed her eyes. "Name?"

The officer checked his notepad. "Adam. Adam Goodman."