Chapter 15 - Hidden in Plain Sight
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"Carolyn?" Daniel gasped, staggering back against the wall. "Carolyn is Claire?!"
"Yes," Detective Morris confirmed. "According to Sarah Carter, Carolyn discovered the truth about her illegal adoption six years ago after her adoptive mother passed away and left behind a confession letter. Carolyn tracked down Margaret Whitmore and applied for the personal assistant job under her fake name to get close to the woman who stole her life."
"My God..." I whispered, my mind racing. "She’s been living in the lion's den this whole time, serving the woman who destroyed her mother."
"Did Margaret know who Carolyn really was?" Daniel asked.
"We don't believe so," Morris replied. "Margaret thought Carolyn was just an eager, subservient assistant. But Carolyn was playing the long game, waiting for the right moment to destroy Margaret from the inside."
And then, a terrifying thought hit me.
"Detective," I said, my voice rising. "Carolyn was at the house the night Oliver died."
Daniel looked at me, shocked. "What? Carolyn wasn't at dinner."
"She was there before dinner!" I remembered frantically. "She brought Margaret the guest wine and set the table before we arrived. I saw her car parked in the driveway when we pulled up, but she left fifteen minutes before we sat down!"
Detective Morris’s eyes lit up. "Wait. We need to check the exterior security cameras from the house again."
Morris pulled up the footage from the outside cameras surrounding the Whitmore estate on the night of the assault.
She fast-forwarded to 8:41 PM—just five minutes before Margaret kicked me in the kitchen.
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On the screen, a shadowy figure slipped out from the side bushes, walked around the back mudroom door, and used a key to quietly enter the house while the rest of us were arguing in the dining room.
It was Carolyn.
