Chapter 8 - The Lake House
Police reached the Lake Geneva property before Sebastian.
The old house had been closed for nearly four years.
Madeline loved it.
Sebastian had not returned since her death.
He arrived with Detective Ruiz and Martin shortly before sunset.
Maya and Eli remained at the estate.
That decision caused the first argument Eli had ever won with words.
“Go.”
Sebastian had crouched in front of him.
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“Find Mommy truth.”
Five words.
Sebastian could not refuse.
The lake house smelled of dust and cold wood.
Mercer had been arrested in the garage after attempting to access a locked storage cabinet.
Police had found cash, false identification and prescription medication in his car.
Gabriel remained missing.
Ruiz led Sebastian downstairs.
The cabinet Mercer tried to open contained nothing valuable.
At least not visibly.
Fishing equipment.
Old blankets.
Tools.
Sebastian remembered Eli’s phrase.
Mommy hide there.
He searched the room.
Madeline never hid anything carelessly.
She would choose somewhere Gabriel could overlook because it appeared ordinary.
Sebastian’s eyes stopped on a framed family photograph.
Madeline.
Sebastian.
Eli at two.
Behind them, the lake.
The frame was crooked.
He removed it.
A small memory card had been taped behind it.
Ruiz smiled without humor.
“Your wife really did not trust cloud storage.”
They played the files upstairs.
The first contained financial documents.
The second contained photographs of Gabriel meeting Mercer.
The third was audio recorded inside the lake house.
Madeline’s voice.
Then Mercer’s.
“Mrs. Blackwood, you misunderstand.”
“I understand exactly.”
“You heard part of a private conversation.”
“I heard Gabriel discussing declaring my husband psychologically incompetent.”
Sebastian leaned toward the screen.
Mercer replied:
“Your husband has anger issues.”
“My husband has a temper. That does not make him incompetent.”
“And your son?”
“My son is three.”
“Family history matters.”
“What family history?”
Mercer hesitated.
Madeline continued.
“You’ve never evaluated Eli.”
“That could be arranged.”
“If you come near my child, I will destroy your license.”
The recording ended.
Sebastian sat motionless.
Ruiz whispered, “She knew Mercer was involved.”
Another recording began.
This one was Madeline alone.
“If something happens to me, Gabriel will try to make Eli look unstable.”
Sebastian closed his eyes.
“He needs control of the trust.”
Her voice trembled.
“Sebastian will resist believing Gabriel betrayed him. I know my husband. Loyalty is his greatest strength until someone uses it against him.”
Sebastian looked down.
Madeline knew him perfectly.
“Eli sees Gabriel as family. That frightens me most.”
The file ended.
There was one final video.
Taken in the lake house kitchen.
Madeline faced the camera.
“If I don’t get to say this to Sebastian myself…”
She stopped.
Collected herself.
“I am not afraid of Gabriel because he is smarter than my husband.”
A sad smile.
“He isn’t.”
“I’m afraid because Sebastian never sees an attack coming from someone he loves.”
Sebastian’s face crumpled.
Ruiz quietly left the room.
Madeline continued.
“So if you see this, my love, please understand something.”
“You did not fail me because you trusted someone.”
“Just don’t fail Eli by trusting him twice.”
The video ended.
Sebastian sat alone.
For the first time since Madeline’s death, he allowed grief to exist without turning it into anger.
He cried.
Not like a businessman.
Not like the feared Sebastian Blackwood.
Like a husband who had lost his wife.
Ten minutes later, Ruiz returned.
“We found Gabriel.”
Sebastian stood.
“Where?”
She hesitated.
“He called us.”
“What?”
“He wants to surrender.”
Sebastian almost laughed.
“Gabriel never surrenders.”
“I know.”
“He wants something.”
Ruiz nodded.
“He asked to meet you.”
“No.”
Sebastian frowned.
Ruiz continued.
“He specifically said he’ll surrender only after telling you what happened after the crash.”
Sebastian stared.
“What happened after?”
“That’s exactly what I asked.”
Gabriel claimed there was something about Madeline’s final hour Sebastian did not know.
Police arranged the surrender at a station.
No private meeting.
No negotiation.
Gabriel arrived with an attorney at 9:32 p.m.
He looked different.
Unshaven.
Exhausted.
But not defeated.
Through interrogation-room glass, Sebastian watched him sit.
Ruiz entered.
Gabriel’s lawyer immediately objected to questioning.
Gabriel ignored him.
“I want Sebastian.”
Ruiz said, “He’s watching.”
Gabriel looked directly at the mirror.
“Then listen carefully.”
Sebastian’s fists tightened.
Gabriel continued.
“I did follow Madeline.”
“I did hit her vehicle.”
His attorney whispered furiously.
Gabriel raised a hand.
“But the crash did not kill her.”
Sebastian’s heart stopped.
Ruiz leaned forward.
“What are you saying?”
“When I reached the SUV, Madeline was alive.”
Sebastian remembered the dash recording.
She’s alive.
Gabriel continued.
“An ambulance arrived twelve minutes later.”
“We know.”
“No.”
Gabriel smiled without warmth.
“You know an ambulance arrived.”
“You don’t know who was inside.”
Ruiz’s face changed.
Gabriel looked toward the mirror.
“Mercer arranged it.”
Sebastian felt the room narrowing.
Gabriel said:
“Madeline survived long enough to speak.”
Sebastian pressed one hand against the glass.
“What did she say?”
Gabriel could not hear him.
But he seemed to know.
He stared at his own reflection.
“Her last words weren’t about me.”
A pause.
“They were about Eli.”
Sebastian’s throat closed.
Gabriel whispered:
May you like
“She begged us not to touch her son.”
And for the first time, even Gabriel Sloane looked ashamed.
