Chapter 7 - The Tunnel Under the Voss Estate
The tunnel smelled like wet stone.
I led.
Roman behind me.
Elena.
David.
Arthur stayed with Maria.
Too old for tunnels.
Maria hated that.
The passage opened behind the wine cellar.
Exactly where I remembered.
But the cellar was not empty.
Boxes.
Medical supplies.
Locked cabinets.
Roman opened one.
IV bags.
Medication.
Elena stared.
“My grandfather’s.”
David took out a vial.
No label.
Roman looked at him.
“Still think this is normal care?”
David said nothing.
Footsteps upstairs.
We moved quietly.
The old estate had three service stairs.
I took the smallest.
It opened behind the library.
Voices.
A woman.
Clara Voss.
Sixty.
Elena’s aunt.
Then the doctor.
Clara said:
“He won’t last another week.”
The doctor answered:
“He could last a month if you stop increasing it.”
Roman looked at Elena.
Her face drained.
Clara said:
“A month is too long.”
David closed his eyes.
The doctor continued:
“If he dies too quickly, they will ask questions.”
Roman stepped into the library.
“Good.”
Both froze.
Elena followed.
“Aunt Clara.”
Clara stared.
David entered last.
His sister’s face changed.
“David.”
Roman looked at the doctor.
“You treated my father.”
The doctor said nothing.
“You treated Voss the night my father was poisoned.”
Silence.
Roman stepped closer.
“And now you are poisoning him slowly.”
The doctor shook his head.
“I am managing symptoms.”
Roman looked at the vial.
“With this?”
The doctor went pale.
Clara stood.
“Roman, you do not understand.”
He almost laughed.
“I understand that sentence very well.”
Elena looked at Clara.
“Why?”
Clara’s expression hardened.
“Because Father was going to confess.”
David stared.
“About the charities?”
“Everything.”
“Roman’s mother?”
“Yes.”
“Roman’s father?”
Clara looked at Roman.
“Yes.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“Did he poison my father?”
Clara shook her head.
“No.”
Roman frowned.
“Then who did?”
The doctor closed his eyes.
Clara looked at him.
He looked at her.
Roman saw it.
“No.”
Elena whispered:
“What?”
Roman looked at Clara.
“You poisoned the wine.”
Silence.
David stared at his sister.
Clara’s face changed.
Not guilt.
Relief.
“Yes.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Roman stepped closer.
“For Maria.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she came back with evidence.”
“Your father moved the glasses.”
“Yes.”
“Did he know?”
“No.”
Roman froze.
Clara continued.
“He thought he was protecting Maria from an argument.”
Roman stared.
“He moved the poison by accident.”
“Yes.”
“And my father drank it.”
“Yes.”
David looked sick.
“You let Father believe he caused it.”
Clara nodded.
“He was easier to control after that.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“And six years later, you are killing him because he wants to confess.”
“Yes.”
Elena began crying.
“Why would you protect this?”
Clara looked at her.
“Because the assets were not all your grandfather’s.”
Roman frowned.
“Whose?”
Clara looked at David.
Then Elena.
“Yours.”
Elena stared.
“What?”
“The trusts.”
Clara continued.
“Your grandfather moved part of the money into accounts for the grandchildren.”
Roman looked at Elena.
She shook her head.
“I didn’t know.”
Clara said:
“You benefited.”
Elena’s voice broke.
“As a child.”
Clara shrugged.
“Money does not care how old you were.”
Roman looked at Clara.
“You killed my father to protect trust funds.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“To protect all of us.”
David laughed bitterly.
“There it is.”
Clara turned.
“You think you’re better?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“But I didn’t poison anyone.”
Clara’s face hardened.
The doctor stepped backward.
Toward the desk.
Roman saw his hand.
A phone.
He moved first.
The doctor dropped it.
Roman picked it up.
Screen open.
A message already typed.
BURN THE PIANO.
Roman froze.
Elena saw it.
“What piano?”
Roman looked at her.
“The one at the gala.”
His mother’s recordings.
His father’s recording.
The hidden compartment.
Evidence.
Roman called Arthur.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Maria answered on the third call.
“Roman?”
“Where’s Arthur?”
“At the mansion.”
“Get away from the piano.”
Silence.
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