Chapter 30 - THE FINAL RESTING PLACE
In May, Margaret, David, and Sarah traveled to a quiet hilltop cemetery overlooking the Hudson River in upstate New York.
They stood before a fresh granite headstone engraved with the name: HARRISON STERLING — REST IN PEACE AT LAST.
The forty-million-dollar war had ended, and Harrison’s memory was finally cleared of the false crimes attributed to him.
David placed a bouquet of fresh white lilies at the base of the headstone, stepping back to hold his mother's hand tightly.
"We brought you home, Uncle Harrison," David murmured softly into the warm spring breeze.
Margaret looked up at the clear blue sky, feeling a deep, spiritual peace settle into every corner of her soul.
"Justice took thirty years, my dear brother-in-law... but it finally found its way home," Margaret whispered.
They turned and walked down the hill together, a unified, unbroken family walking toward a bright, hopeful future.
As they reached their car at the bottom of the hill, David’s phone vibrated in his pocket with an incoming text notification.
He pulled out his phone, reading a text message from an unknown international number that made his blood run cold.
The text contained a high-resolution photo of Margaret standing at the cemetery stone taken from three feet away.
Below the photo was a single line of text in crisp, icy English:
May you like
"Did you really think Arthur Vance worked alone?"
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