Chapter 3 - The Broken Seal
Daniel didn't answer. He walked past Elise, out of the blue sitting room, and down the west hallway toward his wife’s private home office.
The double doors of her office were unlocked. Inside, the room was a stark contrast to the rest of the warm, traditional estate. It was cold, modern, and minimalist, dominated by a large glass desk and steel filing cabinets.
On the floor beside the window lay the shattered remains of the blue ceramic planter. Wet black dirt was ground into the cream rug, mixed with the torn, delicate roots of a white hydrangea.
Daniel bypassed the mess and walked straight to the mahogany filing cabinet in the corner. The second drawer was slightly ajar, its metal tracks bent.
"She didn't use a key," Daniel observed, touching the scratched brass lock. "She used a letter opener. She was desperate."
"She’s a thief, Daniel," Elise said from the doorway. "She was looking for my personal financial records. She’s always been jealous of the control I have over this estate."
Daniel reached into the drawer, pulling out the folder that sat at the very front. It was labeled V.M. Estate – Trust Disbursements. He flipped it open.
Inside were the monthly bank statements for Margaret’s trust—the fund his father had set up to ensure she would never have to worry about medical care, staff, or the maintenance of the estate.
Daniel’s eyes ran down the columns of numbers. He was a corporate analyst; he read balance sheets for a living. It took him less than ten seconds to spot the anomaly.
Every month for the last three months, a sum of fifteen thousand dollars had been wire-transferred from Margaret’s trust account to a private LLC called Holloway Logistics.
"What is Holloway Logistics, Elise?" Daniel asked, holding up the statement.
May you like
Elise’s face went entirely rigid. The slight, patient smile she had maintained since he arrived vanished, replaced by a cold, hard mask. "It’s a property management firm. They handle the maintenance of the guest house and the outer gardens."
"We have a full-time gardener on payroll," Daniel said. "And the guest house has been empty since last year. Why are we paying a logistics firm fifteen thousand dollars a month from my mother’s private account?"
