Chapter 7 - Thirty-Four Missing Minutes
Emily crossed the aisle before anyone could stop her.
“You left my sister on the floor?”
Rachel shook her head violently.
“No. She wasn’t on the floor when I arrived.”
Jason stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Rachel stared at him.
“Tell them.”
His expression warned her not to continue.
She did anyway.
“Lily was standing near the staircase.”
Emily felt her knees weaken.
Rachel’s words came in broken pieces.
“She had a suitcase. She said she was leaving.”
Jason’s face hardened.
“That’s not what happened.”
“You told me she already knew about us,” Rachel said. “You told me she wanted to talk.”
Jason turned toward the congregation.
“She’s confused.”
Rachel laughed once.
It was a frightened, humorless sound.
“That’s what you say about every woman who knows too much.”
The church went still.
Daniel walked closer.
“Rachel, did you see Jason touch Lily?”
She looked at the casket.
“I saw him block the front door.”
Emily’s fingernails dug into her palms.
“And then?”
“Lily told him she had changed the will.”
Jason closed his eyes.
Only for a second.
But Daniel saw it.
So did Emily.
Rachel continued.
“She said she had copies of everything. Jason asked where they were.”
“What did Lily say?” Daniel asked.
“She said he would never find them.”
Jason’s voice exploded.
“Stop talking!”
The shout echoed beneath the vaulted ceiling.
Rachel flinched.
The false mourner was gone now.
In his place stood a man cornered by his own secrets.
Daniel remained calm.
“What happened next?”
Rachel swallowed.
“Jason grabbed Lily’s suitcase. She tried to pull it back. They argued.”
“Did he push her?”
“I don’t know.”
Emily took another step.
“You were there.”
“I turned away.”
“Why?”
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“Because I didn’t want to see what I knew was happening.”
Emily’s anger became something colder.
Rachel whispered, “Then I heard a sound.”
“What sound?”
Rachel looked toward the staircase that existed only in her memory.
“A scream. Then something hit the floor.”
Margaret Carter began sobbing in the front pew.
Thomas held her.
Daniel asked, “Was Lily conscious afterward?”
“Yes.”
Rachel nodded quickly.
“She was breathing. She said her stomach hurt. She begged Jason to call an ambulance.”
Emily turned toward Jason.
“And he waited thirty-four minutes.”
Rachel’s silence answered for him.
Daniel closed Lily’s statement.
“Why?”
Rachel looked at Jason one last time.
May you like
“Because he was searching for the evidence.”
👉 Jason had not delayed help out of panic—he had used Lily’s final conscious minutes to hunt for the files that could destroy him.
