Chapter 7 — The Woman Michael Buried
Chapter 7 — The Woman Michael Buried
The chapel stood at the edge of the old cemetery, abandoned for years.
Rain struck the stained-glass windows as Daniel stepped through the doors.
He had come alone.
At least, that was what he wanted whoever was watching to believe.
Catherine's last message had given him only one instruction:
Come to the chapel. Don't bring the police.
Daniel knew it was dangerous.
But after what he had discovered inside Michael's hidden safe, danger had become unavoidable.
He walked toward the altar.
“Catherine?”
Nothing.
Only the sound of rain.
Then a woman's voice came from behind him.
“You shouldn't have come.”
Daniel turned.
A woman stood in the shadows.
Dark coat.
Wet hair.
Pale face.
She looked older than the photograph he had seen.
But Daniel recognized her immediately.
“Catherine.”
She nodded.
“I told you not to come.”
Daniel stared.
“You've been alive all these years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Catherine's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Michael made sure everyone believed I was dead.”
The Woman Who Disappeared
Catherine slowly approached.
“I didn't disappear.”
Daniel frowned.
“I was taken.”
“By Michael?”
“No.”
She looked toward the cemetery.
“By people who worked for him.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Where did they take you?”
“An abandoned property outside the city.”
“How long?”
“Four months.”
“Then what?”
“I escaped.”
Daniel stared.
“Why didn't you go to the police?”
Catherine laughed bitterly.
“I did.”
“And?”
“They told me I was legally dead.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“What?”
Catherine pulled a folder from her coat.
“My death certificate.”
Daniel opened it.
Name: Catherine Vale.
Date of death: twelve years earlier.
Cause:
Vehicle accident.
Daniel looked at her.
“You weren't in an accident.”
“No.”
“Who was?”
Catherine's voice became barely audible.
“A woman who looked enough like me to fool a coroner.”
The Woman in the Grave
Daniel felt a chill.
“Who was she?”
“I never knew her name.”
“You're telling me Michael killed someone and made the police believe it was you?”
Catherine nodded.
“He needed my identity erased.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew about the accounts.”
Daniel thought about Grace Morgan.
“The first victim.”
Catherine looked at him.
“Grace wasn't the first.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“There was another woman before Grace.”
“Who?”
Catherine opened the folder.
A photograph fell onto the chapel floor.
Daniel picked it up.
The woman was smiling.
She looked almost exactly like Catherine.
Same dark hair.
Similar face.
Similar height.
Daniel looked at Catherine.
“Who is she?”
Catherine whispered:
“Emily Vale.”
“Your sister?”
Catherine nodded.
“My younger sister.”
The Sister Michael Buried
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“Michael knew her?”
“He knew both of us.”
“How?”
“Emily worked for one of his companies.”
“What did she discover?”
“The same thing I discovered.”
“The accounts.”
“And something much worse.”
Catherine's voice trembled.
“Emily discovered that Michael had been buying properties through dead people's identities.”
Daniel frowned.
“Dead people's identities?”
“Yes.”
“He created fake companies.”
“Then transferred the properties into those companies.”
“Why?”
“To hide where the money came from.”
Daniel understood.
“And Emily found proof.”
“She did.”
“What happened?”
Catherine closed her eyes.
“Three days later, she vanished.”
The Body
Daniel asked:
“Was the woman in the grave Emily?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I don't know.”
“Catherine.”
She looked at him.
“I saw the body.”
Daniel went silent.
“When?”
“The night Michael arranged the accident.”
“Where?”
“In the garage.”
Catherine's voice shook.
“Emily was already dead.”
Daniel clenched his fists.
“What did Michael do?”
“He took Emily's identification.”
“Then?”
“He placed it on the body of another woman.”
“Why?”
“To make everyone believe Emily was Catherine.”
Daniel stared.
Catherine continued.
“And then he created a second identity for me.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“He erased you both.”
“Yes.”
The Grave
Catherine led Daniel outside.
They walked between rows of old graves.
She stopped beside one.
The name carved into the stone was:
CATHERINE VALE
Daniel stared.
“You've been standing beside your own grave for twelve years.”
“Yes.”
“Why come back now?”
“Because Michael finally made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“He kept the original evidence.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Where?”
Catherine pointed toward the ground.
“Under this cemetery.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why here?”
“Because Michael thought no one would ever search beneath a grave belonging to a dead woman.”
Beneath the Stone
They returned with tools.
After nearly an hour, Daniel found a metal box buried beneath the stone.
Inside were photographs.
Bank statements.
A flash drive.
And a handwritten journal.
Daniel opened it.
The first page contained Emily's handwriting.
Michael isn't hiding money.
The next line:
He's hiding people.
Daniel's heart stopped.
He read further.
There are at least six identities.
Six people who officially died.
Six people whose names were used to move money.
Daniel looked at Catherine.
“What does this mean?”
Catherine answered:
“Some of those people weren't dead.”
Daniel looked back at the journal.
“Then where are they?”
Catherine shook her head.
“That's what Emily was trying to find out.”
The Last Entry
Daniel turned the pages.
Most were filled with names and numbers.
Then he reached the final entry.
The handwriting became hurried.
Michael knows.
He knows I've found the account.
If I disappear, don't trust Richard.
Daniel stopped.
Catherine saw the page.
“That was the last thing Emily wrote.”
Daniel looked at her.
“She knew Richard.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He was already working with Michael.”
Daniel felt his stomach turn.
“Then Richard wasn't simply involved twelve years ago.”
“No.”
Catherine looked at him.
“He was there from the beginning.”
The Woman in the Photograph
Another photograph lay inside the box.
It showed Michael standing beside a car.
Richard stood beside him.
And between them—
Emily.
Alive.
Terrified.
Daniel studied the image.
“When was this taken?”
“The night before she died.”
Daniel turned the photograph over.
A date was written on the back.
Then another line:
She knows about the child.
Daniel looked at Catherine.
“What child?”
Catherine's face changed.
“Mia.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“Emily knew Mia?”
“She knew Victoria was pregnant.”
“With Mia?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared.
“How could that matter twelve years ago?”
Catherine whispered:
“Because Michael's plan didn't begin after Mia was born.”
“It began before.”
The Real Reason
Daniel suddenly understood the pattern.
The financial accounts.
The fake identities.
The surveillance.
The hidden files.
The obsession with Mia.
Everything went further back than he had imagined.
Catherine took a deep breath.
“Michael wasn't trying to destroy Victoria.”
“Then what was he trying to do?”
“He was trying to obtain something that belonged to Mia.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel looked at the journal.
“Emily did.”
“Yes.”
“Where is the rest of the journal?”
Catherine hesitated.
“There isn't any.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
“She tore out the final pages.”
“Why?”
“Because she was afraid Michael would find them.”
“Where are they?”
Catherine whispered:
“With Victoria.”
The Woman Who Was Buried
Daniel suddenly heard footsteps.
He turned.
A shadow moved between the graves.
“Catherine.”
She grabbed his arm.
“Don't move.”
The shadow disappeared.
Daniel reached for his phone.
“No.”
Catherine stopped him.
“They want us to call for help.”
“Why?”
“So they can follow the signal.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You've been running for twelve years.”
“Yes.”
“How did you survive?”
Catherine's eyes hardened.
“By learning when not to trust anyone.”
A gunshot cracked through the cemetery.
The chapel window shattered.
Daniel pulled Catherine to the ground.
Another shot struck the stone above them.
“Run!”
They sprinted toward the chapel.
Daniel grabbed the evidence box.
Catherine followed.
They reached the old entrance.
Then she stopped.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
She pointed.
A black car was parked beside the chapel.
The same type of car that had been watching Victoria's hospital.
Someone had anticipated their arrival.
The Message
Daniel's phone vibrated.
A text appeared.
YOU FOUND HER.
Another message followed.
NOW ASK HER ABOUT THE FIRE.
Daniel looked at Catherine.
“What fire?”
She went pale.
“The warehouse.”
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Catherine stared at him.
“I saw Richard.”
“Doing what?”
“He locked the doors.”
Daniel froze.
“Who was inside?”
Catherine swallowed.
“Emily.”
Daniel's face went cold.
“She was alive?”
“Yes.”
“Richard locked her inside?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“Michael started the fire.”
Daniel couldn't speak.
The warehouse fire hadn't been an accident.
It had been a murder.
But there was more.
Catherine looked at him.
“You were there too.”
Daniel's heart stopped.
“I was unconscious.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You weren't.”
“What are you saying?”
“You were awake.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You saw Emily.”
His memories began to fracture.
Smoke.
Heat.
A woman's scream.
A hand reaching through flames.
A silver necklace.
He remembered.
He had seen her.
He had tried to help.
And then someone had struck him from behind.
Catherine whispered:
“Emily was the woman you thought you failed to save.”
The Truth
Daniel backed away.
“She survived.”
Catherine nodded.
“No.”
She looked at the photograph.
“She survived the fire.”
Daniel stared.
“Then what happened?”
Catherine's eyes filled with tears.
“Michael found her.”
“And?”
“He buried her alive.”
Silence.
Daniel felt sick.
“Where?”
Catherine pointed toward the cemetery.
Daniel looked at the grave.
The grave marked with her name.
The grave of the woman everyone believed was dead.
Catherine whispered:
“Emily was buried under that stone.”
Daniel looked down.
“But the body inside isn't hers.”
“No.”
“Then whose body is it?”
Catherine shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Daniel stared at the grave.
The truth was finally emerging.
Michael hadn't simply faked one death.
He had built an entire system of false deaths to erase his crimes.
And one woman had survived long enough to expose him.
The Voice
Suddenly, a speaker crackled inside the chapel.
Michael's voice echoed through the darkness.
“You always were sentimental, Catherine.”
Daniel looked toward the sound.
Catherine froze.
Michael continued:
“You should have stayed dead.”
Catherine shouted:
“You killed Emily!”
Michael laughed.
“No.”
A pause.
“She killed herself.”
Daniel shouted:
“Liar!”
Michael answered calmly:
“Ask Catherine what happened after the fire.”
Catherine's face went white.
Daniel turned to her.
“What is he talking about?”
She couldn't answer.
“Catherine.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I lied to you.”
“What?”
“I wasn't the only person who survived that night.”
Daniel stared.
“Who else?”
Catherine looked at him.
“Emily.”
Daniel's heart stopped.
“She was alive after the fire.”
“Yes.”
“Then where is she?”
Catherine whispered:
“I don't know.”
A final sound came from the speaker.
A woman's voice.
Weak.
Frightened.
But unmistakable.
“Catherine?”
Catherine collapsed to her knees.
“No…”
Daniel stared at the speaker.
The voice came again.
“Please…”
Catherine covered her mouth.
“Emily.”
The line went dead.
Daniel looked toward the cemetery.
The grave.
The evidence.
The photograph.
Everything had changed.
Michael hadn't buried Emily.
Someone else had.
And if Emily was alive—
then the woman everyone believed had died twelve years ago was about to become the most dangerous witness in Michael's entire empire.
Because she knew exactly what happened inside the warehouse.
She knew who locked the doors.
She knew who started the fire.
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And most terrifying of all—
she knew why Michael had needed Mia to be born.
