The Silent Guest

Chapter Eight

The storm had quieted by morning, but the Goodman mansion still breathed unease. Rain clung to windows like fingerprints, and inside, the corridors whispered of secrets not yet confessed.

Detective Rachel Kennedy found Elise Vaughn standing by the foyer's tall window, phone in hand, lips pressed together in practiced silence. She wore fresh makeup, a tailored coat, and a demeanor as polished as her stilettos. To anyone else, she might look composed.

But Rachel knew the look of someone ready to run.

"Elise," she said evenly. "We need to talk."

Elise glanced back, expression unreadable. "I already gave my statement."

"We're not finished."

Rachel led her to the sitting room just off the main hall. A quiet place—dim, untouched by the noise of officers and forensics.

She closed the door behind them, then slid a file onto the coffee table.

"Your fingerprints," Rachel said calmly. "They were found on a bottle in the wine cellar. The same room Claire was fleeing from. The same cellar someone used to try and escape the house last night."

Elise didn't move. Didn't blink.

Rachel leaned in slightly. "You were in that room. After Laura's murder. Care to explain?"

A pause. Then Elise's voice—cool, crisp. "I went looking for Claire. I thought she might come here, panic, do something reckless."

"You didn't report her missing. You didn't mention anything about her being involved."

"I was trying to protect her." Elise's tone sharpened. "Something Laura clearly failed to do."

Rachel narrowed her eyes. "Protect her? Or silence her? Like you silenced her mother?"

Elise's expression flickered—just a second. That tiny flash of emotion behind the shield. Anger? Pain?

"I loved my sister," Elise snapped. "I gave up my life to raise Claire after she died. You think that was easy? You think protecting a girl from the weight of this family's name was simple?"

"She was hiding in the walls of this house. Scared out of her mind. You think that's protection?"

"She's alive, isn't she?" Elise's eyes glittered now. "That's more than I can say for Laura."

The silence between them twisted.

Rachel leaned forward, voice low. "Tell me about the ledger."

Elise paused again. Just long enough to confirm it was real.

"That book," she said quietly, "is a blueprint of every sin this family buried. Every bribe, every payoff, every person Richard Goodman destroyed to build his empire. He kept it hidden for leverage. And then, one day, it disappeared."

"Laura found it," Rachel guessed.

Elise gave a slow nod. "Or Adam did. But whoever has it now… is in danger."

Rachel's gaze sharpened. "Why go to the cellar? What were you really looking for, Elise?"

This time, Elise didn't answer. Instead, she smiled faintly, like someone remembering something unpleasant and inevitable.

Then she said, "Detective… be careful whose secrets you dig up. Because the Goodmans never bury anything without planting a trap above it."