Chapter 7 - The Empty Case
Emily stared at the empty container.
Someone had removed the tape.
Grant checked the shelves around it.
“Only this one is missing.”
Daniel clenched his jaw.
“That can’t be accidental.”
Margaret leaned against the doorway.
“Who knew these tapes were here?”
“My husband.”
She paused.
“Victor.”
Emily turned sharply.
“Victor had access?”
“He supervised estate security before your father took over.”
Grant studied the empty case.
“He could have removed it years ago.”
Emily shook her head.
“Then why leave the case?”
Grant looked at her.
“Because people rarely notice what isn’t there.”
Daniel began checking nearby boxes.
One container fell behind the shelf.
Emily bent down to pick it up.
Something scratched against the concrete.
A small metal key.
She held it up.
There was a number stamped into it.
Daniel frowned.
“What does that open?”
Margaret looked closely.
Her expression changed.
“That’s not an estate key.”
Grant waited.
Margaret whispered.
“It’s a bank deposit key.”
Emily’s heart jumped.
“How do you know?”
“I had one exactly like it.”
Grant photographed the key.
“Can you identify the bank?”
“The old Hawthorne accounts were kept at First Central.”
Daniel immediately called his attorney.
The bank confirmed that box 317 still existed.
The registered owner was not Daniel.
It was not Margaret.
It was not Robert Carter.
The box belonged to Victor Vale.
Emily stared at Grant.
“If Victor died four years ago, why is it still active?”
Grant asked the bank representative another question.
His face tightened.
“Because someone paid the annual fee last month.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
The bank would not say without a warrant.
Investigators were contacted.
By afternoon, authorities secured legal access.
Emily sat in Daniel’s study while they waited.
Her emotions swung between anger and exhaustion.
Daniel entered carrying ice wrapped in a towel.
He placed it beside her.
“For your cheek.”
Emily almost smiled.
“About twelve hours late.”
“I deserve that.”
She pressed the ice against her face.
Daniel sat opposite her.
“I remember your father.”
Emily looked at him.
“You were young.”
“So were you.”
“You knew me?”
“You came here sometimes after school.”
Emily searched her memory.
The mansion had seemed enormous then.
She remembered hiding beneath a grand piano.
She remembered a teenage boy bringing her cookies.
“That was you?”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“You stole half my chocolate cake.”
“I was eight.”
“You were dangerous.”
For the first time since the accusation, Emily laughed.
It disappeared quickly.
Daniel looked down.
“Your father was kind to me.”
Emily’s throat tightened.
“He was kind to everyone.”
“I wish my father had believed him.”
Emily studied Daniel.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Or do you wish the scandal would disappear?”
Daniel met her gaze.
“If protecting my family’s reputation means leaving your father’s name stained, then our reputation deserves to be destroyed.”
Emily said nothing.
A car entered the driveway.
Grant appeared at the doorway.
“They opened the deposit box.”
Daniel stood.
“What was inside?”
Grant held up a sealed evidence envelope.
“Photographs.”
Emily rose.
“Of what?”
Grant placed one photograph on the desk.
It showed Victor Vale meeting another man outside a warehouse seventeen years earlier.
A second photograph showed several boxes being loaded into a vehicle.
Then Grant revealed the third.
Emily’s breath stopped.
Her father was in it.
Robert Carter stood hidden behind another vehicle, taking the photograph.
Daniel looked at Grant.
“So Robert was investigating Victor.”
Grant nodded.
“There’s more.”
He placed an old cassette recorder on the desk.
“Victor kept this in the box.”
Emily stared at it.
Grant pressed play.
Static filled the room.
May you like
Then Victor Vale’s voice spoke from seventeen years in the past.
“If Carter talks, we’ll make sure nobody believes him.”
