Chapter 10 - The Heart Pendant
Emily stood staring at the empty jewelry box.
“No.”
She searched beneath scarves.
Nothing.
She emptied the drawer.
Nothing.
Daniel checked the windows.
No forced entry.
Grant inspected the lock.
“Someone used a key.”
Emily turned toward him.
“Marcus had copied estate keys.”
Grant nodded.
Daniel looked furious.
“They knew about the pendant.”
Emily sat on the edge of the bed.
“How?”
Grant held up the letter.
“Someone had Robert’s records.”
Margaret looked pale.
“Victor.”
Emily shook her head.
“If Victor knew the pendant mattered, why didn’t he take it years ago?”
Nobody had an answer.
Then Emily remembered.
“My father changed the chain.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“After he lost his job here.”
She closed her eyes.
“The pendant originally had a thin chain.”
“Then what?”
“He replaced it.”
Grant leaned forward.
“With what?”
“A thicker one.”
Emily stood.
“He said the clasp was broken.”
Margaret understood first.
“The key may not be inside the pendant.”
Emily nodded.
“It could be the clasp.”
Grant asked where the original chain was.
Emily thought.
“My mother kept everything.”
Her mother, Susan Carter, lived forty minutes away.
Daniel immediately arranged a security vehicle.
They arrived shortly before midnight.
Susan opened the door wearing a robe.
Her confusion disappeared when she saw Emily’s bruised cheek.
“What happened to you?”
Emily hugged her.
Then everything came out.
The necklace accusation.
The CCTV footage.
Victor Vale.
The recording.
Her father’s hidden evidence.
Susan listened in stunned silence.
When Emily finished, her mother sat down.
“I told Robert to stop.”
Emily stared.
“You knew?”
“Not everything.”
Susan wiped tears from her face.
“But I knew he thought Victor was stealing.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“You were a child.”
Susan looked toward the hallway.
“After your father died, I wanted that mansion out of our lives.”
Emily’s voice softened.
“But I went back to work there.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you stop me?”
Susan smiled sadly.
“Because you loved the Hawthornes even when I didn’t.”
Daniel heard the words.
He lowered his eyes.
Susan went upstairs.
Ten minutes later, she returned carrying an old sewing box.
Inside were buttons, photographs, broken jewelry, and small keepsakes.
She removed a thin silver chain.
Emily’s breath caught.
“That’s it.”
Grant inspected the clasp.
It was unusually large.
He used a pocket tool.
The clasp separated into two pieces.
Inside was a tiny brass key.
Susan covered her mouth.
“Robert.”
A number was engraved on the key.
Daniel looked toward Grant.
“Another deposit box?”
Grant shook his head.
“Too small.”
Susan suddenly remembered something.
“Robert rented a locker.”
Emily turned.
“Where?”
“At the old train station.”
The station had been closed for eleven years.
But several original storage lockers still existed inside the preserved building.
By 2:00 a.m., police accompanied them there.
Locker 42 stood beneath a layer of dust.
Emily inserted the key.
It turned.
The door opened.
Inside was a small metal box wrapped in plastic.
Emily pulled it out.
Daniel helped open it.
There were photographs.
Receipts.
A handwritten ledger.
And one VHS tape.
On top rested an envelope.
EMILY.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
The letter began with four words.
MY DEAREST LITTLE GIRL.
Emily could barely continue.
Then she reached the final paragraph.
IF THEY EVER COME AFTER YOU THE WAY THEY CAME AFTER ME, DO NOT RUN.
THE TRUTH IS STRONGER THAN THEIR MONEY.
But another sentence had been written beneath it.
May you like
One that made Daniel freeze.
VICTOR WAS NOT WORKING ALONE.
