Chapter 2 – The Hidden Key
The footsteps upstairs were slow.
Deliberate.
A young man appeared at the top of the staircase.
Tyler.
Vanessa's twenty-four-year-old son.
He looked from Claire to the broken padlock still hanging from her hand.
Then to Evelyn, wrapped in a blanket on the living room sofa.
Finally, he looked at his mother.
"What happened?"
Vanessa forced a smile.
"Your stepsister is overreacting."
Claire said nothing.
She simply held up her phone.
Photograph after photograph appeared on the screen.
The crate.
The bruises.
The empty water bowl.
Tyler's face slowly lost all color.
"You...put Grandma in that?"
Vanessa folded her arms.
"She has dementia."
Dr. Harold Benson, the Whitmore family physician, walked through the front door at that exact moment.
Marcus had already let him inside.
He examined Evelyn carefully.
After only a few minutes, he stood.
"Mrs. Whitmore does not appear to be suffering from advanced dementia."
He looked directly at Vanessa.
"She appears to be suffering from neglect."
The room became painfully quiet.
Claire closed her hand around the tiny key Evelyn had hidden inside her robe.
"What does this open?"
Evelyn smiled weakly.
"Your father's desk."
Claire frowned.
"The desk is already unlocked."
"Not...the drawer."
She pointed toward the large mahogany desk in Richard Whitmore's office.
Claire searched every drawer.
Nothing.
Then she noticed a tiny brass keyhole hidden beneath the center drawer.
She inserted the key.
Click.
A false compartment slowly slid open.
Inside rested a sealed envelope.
Across the front, written in her father's familiar handwriting, were the words:
For Claire. Open only if I cannot tell you myself.
Her hands shook as she unfolded the letter.
My dearest Claire,
If you are reading this, then something happened before I could protect you.
If my death was unexpected, trust nothing until you verify it yourself.
Especially not Vanessa.
During the past year I discovered financial transfers I never authorized.
Someone has been forging my signature.
Copies of every record are stored where only your grandmother knows.
If I am gone, do not let them bury the truth with me.
I love you.
Dad.
Claire silently folded the letter.
Then she looked at Evelyn.
"Where are the records?"
May you like
Evelyn whispered one word.
"Attic."
