Chapter 7 - THE MAN WITH SIX FINGERS Only one person connected to the estate had been born with an extra finger.
Graham Voss’s older brother, Edwin.
Edwin underwent surgery as a child, but family photographs showed a faint scar beside his right little finger. He had worked as the Santillán estate’s private investigator before disappearing thirteen years earlier.
Graham claimed Edwin died while sailing near the Gulf of California.
No body had been recovered.
Arturo remembered Edwin’s unusual talent for mimicry. He could copy handwriting, posture, and voices after brief observation.
“He impersonated me at charity events as a joke,” Arturo said.
León did not smile.
“He used your ring to order poison.”
Graham rejected the accusation.
“My brother was unstable, but he was not a murderer.”
“Where is the death certificate?” Dr. Shaw asked.
Graham had none.
Edwin was declared legally dead after seven years of absence.
Sofia’s files suggested he remained active long afterward. Payments from Golden Continuity went to an account called E.V. Field Services until six months before her death.
The recent foxglove delivery used a security method Edwin designed.
If alive, he had returned.
If dead, someone wanted the family to believe he had.
Detective Lena Morales took control of the criminal investigation. She requested a complete inventory of the estate’s tunnels, service corridors, and disused rooms.
The Santillán property had grown over generations. Some passages did not appear on modern plans.
One tunnel connected the greenhouse to the nursery wing.
Dust on the floor showed recent movement.
A narrow room midway through the passage contained clothing in Arturo’s size, copied signet rings, voice recordings, and photographs of family members entering private offices.
Someone had built an impersonation chamber beneath the estate.
A monitor displayed a live feed from Julián’s hospital room.
Arturo ripped the cable from the wall.
“They can still see him.”
Morales found a headset loaded with samples of Arturo, Graham, Mercer, Florence, Victoria, and León.
The same system could have created false calls and messages.
This explained how the poisoner manipulated each participant without requiring them to cooperate knowingly.
But the physical crimes still required someone inside the estate.
A recent photograph showed the nursery before the party—no, before the medical emergency. The foxglove stood beside the window. A hand adjusted the gold ribbon.
Six fingers were visible.
Graham sat down.
“My brother is alive.”
“Or someone preserved his body feature,” Morales said.
The tunnel ended beneath an abandoned chapel on Santillán land. Police entered and found bedding, canned food, surveillance equipment, and bloodstained bandages.
A surgical glove lay on the floor.
It had been modified with an artificial sixth finger.
Someone had deliberately imitated Edwin’s deformity.
León picked up a burned photograph from the chapel table.
It showed Sofia beside a younger Graham and Edwin.
Behind them stood Victoria.
On the back, Sofia had written:
One brother copies faces. The other copies trusts. Never confuse which one is more dangerous.
Graham read the sentence.
His expression did not show grief.
It showed recognition.
Morales asked what Sofia meant.
Graham looked toward the dark tunnel.
“She believed Edwin was working for me.”
“Was he?”
Graham did not answer.
A phone began ringing beneath the chapel altar.
It displayed a live call from Julián’s hospital room.
When Arturo answered, a man using his own voice said:
May you like
“Bring León to the greenhouse, or the next dose reaches the baby.”
👉 The poisoner no longer wanted the estate or the trust alone—he wanted León delivered to the place where Sofia died.
