The Blue Cabinet
# CHAPTER 2
William Harrison’s study had been locked since the morning of his death.
Robert Collins carried the only key.
The family followed him through the mansion in uneasy silence. No one wanted to remain behind with the coffin, yet no one wanted to walk beside Edward or Jonathan.
Charlie came too.
A household employee moved his wooden perch into the corridor, but the macaw refused to stay on it. He flew across the hall and landed on the back of William’s old leather chair the moment Robert opened the study door.
The room still smelled of cedar, paper, and the faint tobacco scent William had carried on his clothes despite giving up cigars years earlier.
A large desk faced the ocean.
Bookshelves covered two walls. Framed photographs showed William beside presidents, governors, ships, hotels, and construction sites. There were fewer family photographs than business awards.
Behind the desk stood a tall blue cabinet.
Edward walked toward it.
Robert blocked him.
“Your father’s instructions specify that I open it.”
“This is my family’s property.”
“Not until the will is executed.”
Jonathan remained near the doorway.
His eyes moved around the room.
Caroline noticed.
“What are you looking for?”
“Nothing.”
“You’ve been in here recently.”
“So have all of us.”
Charlie leaned forward.
“Close the door, Johnny.”
The bird used William’s private name for Jonathan.
Jonathan’s face changed.
Robert closed the door.
Margaret folded her arms.
“Now we know Father spoke to Jonathan in here.”
“That proves nothing,” Jonathan said.
Robert unlocked the blue cabinet.
Inside were shelves containing account books, correspondence, prescription bottles, and dozens of small digital recorders.
At the center rested a black wooden box.
Robert removed it and placed it on the desk.
The box required a four-digit code.
Charlie climbed from the chair onto the desktop and tapped the lid with his beak.
“Twenty-seven,” he said.
Robert entered 0027.
The lock opened.
Inside was a flash drive, a sealed laboratory report, and a letter addressed to all four Harrison children.
Caroline reached for it.
Robert stopped her.
“I will read.”
Edward looked at the digital recorders.
“How long was Father recording us?”
“Perhaps he wasn’t,” Margaret said. “Perhaps he was recording whoever came into this room.”
Robert opened the letter.
My children,
If you are hearing these words after Charlie has spoken, then my death has happened earlier than I intended.
Edward laughed sharply.
“Earlier than he intended?”
Robert continued.
For six months, I have suspected that someone has been replacing part of my heart medication. The changes were subtle enough to weaken me without immediately causing death.
Caroline stared toward the coffin beyond the hall.
“Why didn’t he call the police?”
The letter answered her.
I did not know whom to trust. My physician found no irregularity because the medicine delivered to him for testing was not the same medicine kept in my bedroom.
Margaret looked at Robert.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
William’s letter explained that he installed hidden audio recorders in his study and bedroom. He also taught Charlie several response phrases.
If the bird heard particular words spoken repeatedly, he was trained to repeat them during the reading of the will.
Jonathan looked furious.
“Father turned an animal into a witness.”
“He trusted the bird because Charlie could not inherit,” Margaret said.
Robert removed the laboratory report.
The blood analysis had been performed privately three weeks before William’s death. It showed traces of digitalis, a powerful heart medication that could become dangerous in excessive amounts.
William’s prescribed drug did not contain digitalis.
Edward read over Robert’s shoulder.
“Someone poisoned him.”
“Slowly,” Robert said. “Over time.”
Jonathan pointed toward the flash drive.
“Play it.”
Robert connected it to William’s computer.
The drive contained twelve audio files.
The first recording was dated six months earlier.
William’s voice spoke clearly.
“Edward, the company is not yours until I decide it is.”
Edward answered.
“You promised me control.”
“I promised you responsibility. You confused the two.”
“You’re eighty-two.”
“And still more useful than you.”
The recording ended.
Edward’s expression hardened.
“That was a business argument.”
The second file featured Jonathan.
“I need another advance.”
“No.”
“You gave Caroline ten million for her foundation.”
“She presented a budget. You presented gambling debts.”
“You always humiliate me.”
“You manage that yourself.”
The file ended.
Jonathan looked toward the floor.
The next recordings involved Margaret and Caroline.
Margaret had asked William to remove Edward as chief operating officer after discovering irregular shipping contracts.
Caroline had asked him to protect her husband from a fraud investigation.
Every child had wanted something.
Every child had been refused.
Robert opened the sixth recording.
Two male voices entered the study.
Edward and Jonathan.
Jonathan spoke first.
“He’ll change the will.”
Edward replied, “Not if the doctors think his heart finally failed.”
Jonathan’s face went white.
“That is not me.”
Everyone looked at him.
The voice was unmistakable.
The recording continued.
“We reduce the real tablets,” Edward said. “Replace enough to keep him weak.”
“And if he notices?”
“He trusts Hayes.”
Dr. Robert Hayes was William’s personal physician.
Jonathan whispered on the recording:
“What if the bird repeats us?”
Edward answered:
“Then we get rid of the bird.”
Charlie shrieked.
He launched from the desk and flew toward Edward.
Edward raised both arms.
The bird’s claws caught his shoulder, tearing the black fabric.
Charlie beat his wings near Edward’s face until Margaret grabbed a blanket from the sofa and guided him away.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Edward pointed at the computer.
“That recording is fabricated.”
Robert examined the file metadata.
“It was created four months ago on this computer.”
“Anyone could imitate our voices.”
Margaret looked toward Jonathan.
“Tell him.”
Jonathan’s face had collapsed.
Edward stepped toward his brother.
“Do not say another word.”
Robert moved between them.
Jonathan began shaking.
“We talked about it.”
Caroline gasped.
Edward closed his eyes.
Jonathan continued.
“But we didn’t do it.”
“You discussed poisoning your father,” Margaret said.
“We were drunk.”
“In his study?”
“Edward brought me here after midnight.”
Edward’s voice became cold.
“You’re confused.”
“No.”
Jonathan looked at his brother.
“You said we could replace the medication. I said no.”
“The recording says otherwise.”
“I wanted him frightened. Weak enough to postpone changing the company structure. I never agreed to kill him.”
Edward grabbed his arm.
Jonathan pulled away.
Robert opened the seventh audio file.
This time, only one person entered the study.
A woman.
Sophia Harrison, Edward’s wife.
Her voice was low.
“You promised the old man would be dead before the audit.”
Edward replied:
“Keep your voice down.”
“The contracts lead to me.”
“They lead to both of us.”
“And Jonathan?”
“He’ll take the blame.”
Jonathan stared at Edward.
“You planned to frame me.”
Edward said nothing.
The recording continued.
Sophia asked:
“What about the final dose?”
Edward answered:
“Tomorrow night. In the tea.”
Robert paused the file.
William died the following morning.
Margaret looked toward the door.
“Where is Sophia?”
Everyone realized she had not followed them into the study.
Edward turned.
Robert opened the door.
The corridor was empty.
A security guard hurried toward them.
“Mr. Collins, Mrs. Harrison has left the ballroom.”
“The gates are locked,” Robert said.
“She didn’t use the gates.”
The guard held up a security tablet.
A camera showed Sophia crossing the rear lawn toward the private marina.
She carried a small suitcase.
Charlie landed on William’s chair again.
He watched the screen.
Then he spoke in Sophia’s voice:
“The second bottle is on the boat.”
Jonathan stared at Edward.
“What second bottle?”
Edward did not answer.
Robert looked toward the marina feed.
Sophia had reached William’s yacht.
She stepped aboard.
Seconds later, smoke erupted from the lower deck.
The image shook.
A violent explosion illuminated the water.
Caroline screamed.
Flames consumed the yacht.
Edward rushed toward the door.
But Charlie shouted over him:
“She knows about the body!”
Everyone stopped.
Robert slowly turned toward the bird.
“The body?” Margaret whispered.
Charlie bobbed his head.
Then, in William’s voice, he said:
“Sophia didn’t kill me.”
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**👉 Continue to Chapter 3 — The Body on the Yacht**
