Chapter 28: Catherine's Confession

Catherine Thorne confessed in a police interview room with a paper cup of water and no jewelry. Leah watched through the glass beside Ethan, Richard, and ADA Alvarez. She expected satisfaction. Instead she felt a heavy, complicated grief. Catherine looked smaller without pearls, but smallness did not erase what she had done. "Martha arranged the transfer," Catherine said on the monitor. "She said Elena Voss had made enemies. She said the baby would be killed. I had lost my daughter during delivery. Martha told me I could save one child and heal my family at the same time." The detective asked, "Olivia Thorne?" Catherine covered her face. "Olivia was mine. Martha said she was too weak to survive publicity around the Voss investigation. She placed her under a secondary identity for six months, then brought her back as Richard's ward. Later we called her Isabella's sister. Richard believed it was a private adoption." Richard made a sound like a man being gutted. Leah did not comfort him. "Did Richard Thorne know Isabella was Elena Voss's child?" the detective asked. "No. He suspected later. Martha kept proof where only she could access it." "Where?" Catherine lowered her hands. "The original trust vault. Beneath Thorne House." ADA Alvarez stopped the recording. "That vault requires family biometric access, correct?" Richard nodded slowly. "Mine. Mother's. Isabella's, before her death." Everyone looked at Leah. The dead girl's fingerprint could open the vault. Ethan spoke first. "Martha will expect that." "Good," Leah said. He turned to her. "No." "You do not get to veto my life." "I am trying to keep you alive long enough to have one." The words landed too close to tenderness. Leah looked away first. Through the glass, Catherine stared at her own hands, the hands that had signed away another woman's child. ADA Alvarez slid a file across the table. "We can protect Catherine tonight. We cannot move on Martha without the original documents. Copies will be attacked. The vault matters." Richard lifted his head. "I will take you in." Leah looked at the man who had raised her and failed her. "Why?" His voice broke. "Because I have been a coward longer than you have been alive." Before Leah could answer, Alvarez's phone rang. She listened, expression tightening. "Martha knows Catherine is here," she said. On the monitor, the interview room lights flickered. Then Catherine began to convulse.