Chapter 7 - The Person Who Had a Key
Ethan was first into the hallway.
Mara followed more slowly, one hand on the banister.
Helen came behind them, breathing hard.
By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, the front door was closed.
No one stood in the foyer.
The house was silent.
Ethan glanced toward the living room.
"Stay here."
Mara ignored him.
"I'm done being told where to stay."
He looked at her, then nodded once.
They moved room by room.
The living room was empty.
The dining room was empty.
The downstairs bathroom was empty.
The back door remained locked.
Then Ethan saw the mudroom door leading to the garage.
It stood open three inches.
He pushed it wider.
The garage was dark.
His hand found the wall switch.
Light flooded the concrete floor.
No one was there.
But a cabinet near the workbench stood open.
Helen crossed the room quickly.
"No."
Ethan looked at her.
"What was in there?"
Helen pulled open the bottom drawer.
It was empty.
"The lockbox."
Mara felt her stomach drop.
"What lockbox?"
Helen turned.
"A metal cash box with original documents."
"Originals of what?"
"The Rowan settlement records."
Ethan looked toward the exterior garage door.
It was closed and locked.
"Who has a key?"
Helen did not answer.
"Mom."
"I do."
"Who else?"
Helen looked toward Mara.
Mara's pulse quickened.
"Don't look at me."
Helen shook her head.
"I'm not accusing you."
"Then answer him."
Helen pressed her lips together.
"There is one spare."
"Where?"
"There was one in the kitchen drawer."
Ethan walked back into the house.
The small ceramic bowl near the refrigerator held spare keys, loose change, and two batteries.
Helen searched through it.
"It's gone."
Mara stared at her.
"How long has it been gone?"
"I don't know."
"You know where every pill bottle sits, but you don't know when a house key disappears?"
Helen's face flushed.
"I don't count keys every morning."
Ethan opened the front door and looked up and down the street.
No car was pulling away.
No person was running.
A delivery van moved slowly at the far intersection.
The neighborhood looked painfully normal.
Mara stood behind him.
"Maybe whoever came in is still here."
Ethan turned.
Helen looked toward the basement door.
All three of them noticed at once.
The basement light was on.
Mara's skin prickled.
Helen whispered.
"I turned that off this morning."
Ethan picked up a heavy flashlight from the entry cabinet.
"Call the police."
Helen grabbed his arm.
"No."
He stared at her.
"Someone entered the house and stole legal documents."
"We don't know what they stole."
"You just said the lockbox is gone."
Helen lowered her voice.
"Calling the police brings questions."
Mara laughed in disbelief.
"Questions are exactly what we need."
Helen looked at her.
"Not if the answers expose Paul."
"Paul is dead."
"His actions are not."
Ethan pulled his arm free.
"I'm calling."
Helen's voice sharpened.
"Then be ready to explain your signature on the 2020 settlement amendment."
Ethan stopped.
Mara stared at him.
"What settlement amendment?"
Ethan's face went pale.
Helen immediately looked as though she regretted speaking.
Mara stepped closer to Ethan.
"What did you sign in 2020?"
He lowered the flashlight.
"I told you there were records Dad asked me to review."
"You said a confidentiality agreement."
"There was another page."
Mara felt anger burning through her exhaustion.
"Of course there was."
"I thought it was an acknowledgment that I had received the documents."
Helen gave a bitter laugh.
"You were thirty-six years old, Ethan."
He turned on her.
"You told me it was routine."
"Because Paul told me it was routine."
Mara pressed her fingers to her forehead.
"What did the page actually do?"
Ethan looked at her.
"It waived any future claim by the Bennett family against the Rowan estate."
She stared at him.
"Why would your family have a claim against my family?"
"I don't know."
Helen answered quietly.
"Because Paul reversed the story."
Mara turned.
Helen's eyes were wet.
"He created records claiming Charles Rowan had defrauded him."
"So he stole from my grandfather and then created paperwork saying my grandfather stole from him?"
Helen nodded.
Mara felt nauseated.
"And Ethan signed something connected to that lie."
"Without knowing the full history," Helen said.
Mara looked at Ethan.
"But knowing enough not to ask."
He looked down.
The basement made a faint creaking sound.
All three of them froze.
Ethan raised the flashlight again.
"Stay behind me."
This time Mara did.
They moved toward the basement door.
Ethan opened it.
The stairs descended into a bright rectangle of unfinished concrete.
No one moved below.
He went down first.
Mara followed.
At the bottom, a small window above the washer was open.
The screen had been pushed outward.
A wooden crate sat beneath it.
Someone had used the basement as an exit.
Ethan crossed to the window.
"They came in through the front and left through here."
Mara looked at the floor.
There were wet footprints near the crate.
One set.
Small.
Not Ethan's.
Not Helen's.
Not Mara's.
Helen knelt beside the washer.
She picked up a torn corner of yellow paper.
Mara recognized it immediately.
It matched the old envelope Paul had addressed to Ethan.
Helen's hands began to shake.
"They didn't just take the lockbox."
Ethan looked at her.
"What else was in it?"
Helen stared at the scrap.
"The original deed."
Mara's pulse quickened.
"To this house?"
Helen shook her head.
"No."
May you like
She looked up at Mara.
"The deed Paul signed years ago transferring it back to the Rowan family."
