Chapter 7 - THE HOUSE WITH NO SAFE ROOM
Reed moved first.
He ordered Brooke into the master bathroom with Jonah and told Travis to lock the door behind them.
Travis refused.
“My family is upstairs.”
“That is why you follow instructions.”
Another crash sounded below.
The emergency lights did not activate.
Someone had cut power to the backup system.
Reed radioed for units.
No signal.
The mansion’s security network was dead.
Travis carried Jonah to Brooke.
“Stay here.”
She grabbed his sleeve.
“No heroics.”
He looked at her.
“I am done letting other people stand between us.”
“That is not what I said.”
He kissed her forehead.
Then he closed the door.
Downstairs, Reed and Travis moved through the dark with phone flashlights.
The front window had been broken from outside.
But no one had entered there.
It was a distraction.
Reed noticed the rear service door standing open.
They followed wet footprints across the kitchen.
The prints ended near Lorraine’s former study.
Inside, a filing cabinet drawer had been forced open.
Documents covered the floor.
Travis recognized Franklin’s trust files.
One folder was missing.
“Someone came for records,” Reed said.
A noise came from the garage.
They found Dr. Vale behind the SUV.
He was bleeding from the forehead.
His hands were zip-tied.
“Help me,” he gasped.
Reed cut him free.
“Who did this?”
Vale looked at Travis.
“Evan Shaw.”
Travis stared.
“Why would he attack you?”
“He thinks I killed his childhood.”
“Did you?”
Vale swallowed.
Reed stepped closer.
“Answer.”
Vale admitted he falsified Elias’s death certificate.
He said Franklin threatened to destroy his career. Later, Franklin paid his gambling debts.
“And Brooke?” Travis demanded. “You replaced her medication.”
Vale shook his head.
“Lorraine asked me to switch the bottle. I refused.”
“The camera shows you doing it.”
“That bottle contained harmless sedatives.”
“Sedatives for a postpartum woman holding a newborn?”
Vale looked away.
“You were going to make her fail a blood test.”
“I was going to make her appear impaired.”
Travis lunged.
Reed caught him.
“Do not give him another weapon to use against you.”
Vale began to cry.
It was not remorse.
It was panic.
“Lorraine has everything,” he said. “Records. Payments. Videos. She kept copies in case Franklin ever turned on her.”
“Where?” Reed asked.
“I don’t know.”
A phone rang.
Not Travis’s.
Not Reed’s.
Vale froze.
The sound came from inside his jacket.
Reed removed the phone and answered on speaker.
Lorraine’s voice filled the garage.
“Malcolm?”
No one spoke.
“Did you get the file?”
Reed looked at Vale.
Vale shook his head frantically.
Lorraine continued.
“Malcolm, listen to me. Evan cannot see the amended trust. If he does, he gets standing.”
Travis stepped closer to the phone.
“Standing for what?”
Silence.
Then Lorraine said, “You always did enter rooms before understanding them.”
“Where are you?”
“Protecting what your wife is trying to steal.”
“My wife has never stolen anything.”
“She stole your loyalty.”
“You lost that yourself.”
Lorraine’s voice sharpened.
“Ask Evan why he waited until Jonah was born. Ask him why a prosecutor spent a year collecting trust documents before introducing himself.”
Travis looked at Reed.
Lorraine continued.
“He is not here to find a brother. He is here to claim an inheritance.”
The call ended.
Reed took Vale into custody.
At dawn, Evan arrived.
Travis met him in the ruined study.
“Did you break into the house?”
“No.”
“Vale says you attacked him.”
“Vale lies for money.”
“Mom says you are after the trust.”
Evan looked at the empty drawer.
“Of course she does.”
“Are you?”
Evan did not answer quickly enough.
Travis’s chest tightened.
Finally Evan said, “Franklin amended the trust after he learned Elias was alive.”
“You.”
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
Evan opened his briefcase and removed a photocopy.
The amendment stated that any surviving biological child of Lorraine Mercer Calder would share equal rights to the Calder estate.
Travis read it.
“You knew.”
“I found it six months ago.”
“And you waited.”
“I needed proof.”
“You came when Jonah was born.”
“Because Jonah’s birth triggered the trust.”
Lorraine had told the truth.
Not all of it.
But enough.
Travis looked at his brother.
“Do you want the money?”
Evan’s jaw tightened.
“I want the record corrected.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Evan met his eyes.
“Yes,” he said. “I want what was stolen from me.”
Before Travis could respond, Brooke appeared in the doorway holding Jonah.
She looked from one brother to the other.
Then she said, “Someone just left a package outside the nursery.”
Inside the package was a blood-stained key.
May you like
And a note.
THE PROOF IS IN FRANKLIN’S GRAVE.
