Part 3: The Confrontation
Part 3: The Confrontation
Grace stood frozen, the horror of what her son had done—and what he had uncovered—clashing violently in her chest.
She turned on her heel and walked rapidly down the hall to the guest suite. She didn't knock. She burst through the door.
Katherine was sitting on the edge of the mattress, the wrinkled lace of her wedding dress draping over her knees. Robert was standing by the window, his phone in his hand, looking pale.
"Is it true?" Grace demanded, her voice cracking. "Was your name Sarah Evans? Were you Beatrice's roommate in Richmond?"
Katherine didn't look up, but her shoulders collapsed. The quiet, sweet girl who washed dishes and smiled shyly vanished, replaced by someone hollowed out by guilt.
"I didn't kill her," Katherine whispered, her voice barely audible. "It was raining. We were arguing in the car because she found out I had applied for the same London internship. She told me I was nothing but a charity case."
Robert turned around, his eyes wide. "My god, Katherine..."
"She pulled the steering wheel!" Katherine suddenly screamed, looking up, her face twisted in agony. "She was angry, she wanted to scare me! The car hit a guardrail, and she... she flew through the passenger side because she wasn't wearing her belt! I panicked. I was twenty-one, terrified, and I knew how it would look."
"So you left her there?" Grace asked, tears of rage spilling over her eyes. "You left a dying girl in the mud, changed your name, and married her grieving boyfriend?"
"I didn't know he was her boyfriend!" Katherine sobbed, clutching her head. "I met Caleb at a professional seminar in D.C. a year later. He approached me. He comforted me when I said I was lonely. I thought it was fate! I didn't realize until tonight... he hunted me down."
The realization hit the room like a physical blow.
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Caleb hadn't fallen in love. He had executed a flawless, two-year psychological sting operation, culminating in a legally binding marriage just to trap her in a corner where she couldn't easily run.
"The police are on their way," Robert said quietly, holding up his phone. "I called them the moment she started confessing to me."
