Chapter 6 - Evan’s Password
Miranda slept for forty-two minutes.
At 5:12 a.m., she was back in the study with Claire on speakerphone and the security company’s technician remotely examining the system.
Evan’s administrator account had been used from inside the house.
Not remotely.
Not from the company.
From the mansion’s private network.
“Can you identify the device?” Miranda asked.
“A laptop.”
“Mine?”
“No.”
“Ryan’s?”
“No.”
“Lorraine’s?”
“We’d need the device itself to compare identifiers, but the login came through your local Wi-Fi.”
Lorraine had used a personal laptop in her suite.
Police had not seized it after the initial incident because the assault evidence was already captured on the house system and no warrant existed for every electronic device she owned.
Now Miranda’s attorney had another reason to contact investigators.
Claire called Sergeant Mercer.
Meanwhile Miranda searched the security account settings.
Evan’s administrator profile had never been removed.
She hated herself for that.
After his death, there had been so many things.
Funeral arrangements.
Estate filings.
Therapy for Ryan.
Bennett waking every night calling for a father he barely remembered.
Company meetings.
Grief had turned ordinary administrative tasks into mountains.
She had left Evan’s digital life frozen because deleting him from anything felt unbearable.
Someone had used that grief as a doorway.
At seven, Ryan wandered downstairs in pajamas.
“You’re awake.”
“So are you.”
“I had a bad dream.”
Miranda closed the laptop immediately.
“Come here.”
Ryan sat beside her.
“What happened in the dream?”
“Lorraine came back.”
“She can’t just come back.”
“She knew the door code.”
Miranda stopped.
“What?”
Ryan looked confused.
“She knew the side door code.”
“When did you see that?”
“A bunch of times.”
“I thought you let her in.”
“No. She came in by herself.”
Miranda had assigned Lorraine a staff code.
But Ryan was talking about the family side entrance.
A different code.
One Evan had chosen years earlier.
Miranda opened the access log.
Her heart began pounding.
Lorraine’s official staff code had been used regularly.
The family code had also been used.
Mostly late at night.
She filtered the entries.
1:17 a.m.
12:43 a.m.
2:06 a.m.
Times Lorraine was supposed to have been asleep inside the house already.
Why would she exit and reenter?
Or was someone else using it?
Claire arrived thirty minutes later with coffee and bad news.
“Adrian retained counsel.”
“Already?”
“He has every right to.”
“That isn’t what I mean.”
“I know.”
Claire sat.
“The company board has also received an anonymous allegation.”
Miranda’s stomach dropped.
“About what?”
“You.”
“Of course.”
“It claims you’ve become unstable since Evan’s death and that your judgment is jeopardizing Hale Meridian.”
Miranda laughed without humor.
“Yesterday my nanny assaulted my children, and somehow I’m the problem.”
“It gets worse.”
Claire placed a printed email on the table.
The allegation claimed Miranda had manufactured conflict with domestic staff, neglected management responsibilities, and was using company resources for “obsessive private investigations.”
“Who sent it?”
“Anonymous account.”
“When?”
“4:41 this morning.”
Miranda looked at the timestamp.
Someone was moving quickly.
Claire continued.
“Adrian has called an emergency board meeting for tomorrow.”
“Can he?”
“As CFO and a director, yes. He can request one. He cannot simply remove your ownership or take control of your shares.”
“What does he want?”
“I suspect he wants to damage your credibility before the audit becomes public internally.”
Miranda looked toward the study safe.
“Then we open that.”
A safe technician arrived under Claire’s supervision.
Miranda provided proof of ownership.
The safe was hers as part of Evan’s estate.
After forty minutes, the lock released.
Miranda’s hands shook as she opened the heavy door.
Inside were three folders.
An old watch.
A flash drive.
And a handwritten note.
No blue envelope.
Miranda unfolded the note.
It contained only one line.
M, if Adrian ever says the numbers are a misunderstanding, do not believe him. Start with Project Cedar.
Miranda sat down.
Claire read it twice.
“What is Project Cedar?”
“I don’t know.”
The flash drive was encrypted.
A folder labeled CEDAR contained copies of invoices dated shortly before Evan’s death.
One vendor name appeared repeatedly.
Northstar Residential Services.
Claire whispered, “Evan knew.”
Miranda turned another page.
A handwritten number appeared beside a transfer.
250,000 — L.V.
Lorraine Voss.
Before either woman could speak, Miranda’s phone rang.
It was the police.
They had executed a court-authorized search related to the missing envelope and electronic evidence.
Lorraine’s laptop contained an encrypted folder.
May you like
The folder name was only one word.
CEDAR.
