Chapter 3 - Laurel’s Blue KeyBennett reached the mansion eighteen minutes later.
Two security officers stood near the entrance.
Rosanna waited inside.
She looked pale.
“Where’s Chloe?”
“Library.”
“Doctor?”
“Dr. Mehta examined her. Physically she appears okay.”
“Ramona?”
“Upstairs.”
Bennett looked toward the staircase.
“Packing?”
“She stopped.”
“Why?”
“Because she realized security was watching the gates.”
Bennett’s jaw tightened.
He went to Chloe first.
She sat curled on the library sofa wearing clean pajamas.
Her hair was damp from a shower.
The dirty streak was gone.
The memory was not.
When Bennett entered, Chloe stood so quickly the blanket fell.
“Dad.”
He crossed the room.
She ran into him.
Bennett dropped to his knees and held her.
“I’m here.”
Chloe cried.
“I told her you’d come.”
The sentence cut deeper than anything else.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”
“She said you wouldn’t believe me.”
Bennett pulled back.
“Look at me.”
Chloe did.
“I believe you.”
Her mouth trembled.
“All of it?”
“Yes.”
“She said I was spoiled.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“She said Mom left things that weren’t really mine.”
Bennett froze.
“What things?”
Chloe shook her head.
“She wouldn’t say.”
“Did she ask about a key?”
Chloe’s eyes widened.
“The blue one?”
“Yes.”
“Mom’s key.”
Bennett felt a chill.
“You know it?”
Chloe nodded.
“Where?”
She hesitated.
That was unusual.
“Chloe?”
“Mom said not to tell anyone.”
Bennett’s heart tightened.
“When did Mom tell you that?”
“I was little.”
“How little?”
Chloe thought.
“Maybe five.”
Laurel died when Chloe was six.
“What exactly did she say?”
Chloe closed her eyes.
“She showed me a blue key.”
“Where?”
“In her music box.”
“What did she say?”
“That if people ever started fighting about papers, I should give it to Aunt Evelyn.”
Bennett frowned.
“Aunt Evelyn?”
Laurel’s older sister.
Evelyn Price.
A woman Bennett had barely spoken to in four years after an ugly dispute over Laurel’s estate.
“Did you give it to her?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Mom died.”
The simplicity hurt.
“And then?”
“Ramona moved the music box.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Bennett looked toward Rosanna.
She shook her head.
“I haven’t seen it.”
Chloe whispered:
“Ramona asked me last week.”
Bennett turned back.
“About the key?”
“Yes.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That I didn’t know.”
“Did you?”
Chloe looked guilty.
“I lied.”
Bennett almost smiled.
“Good.”
She looked surprised.
“Good?”
“Yes.”
“Mom said don’t tell.”
“Then you followed her instruction.”
Chloe thought.
“It’s not in the music box anymore.”
Bennett froze.
“Where is it?”
Chloe climbed from the sofa.
She walked toward a large built-in shelf.
Pulled out a children’s edition of The Secret Garden.
Opened the back cover.
A small blue key was taped inside.
Bennett stared.
Laurel had loved that book.
Chloe removed the key.
Tiny.
Metal.
Painted blue.
A stamped number on one side:
L-19.
Bennett held it.
“What does it open?”
Chloe shook her head.
“Mom said Aunt Evelyn knows.”
Bennett had not spoken to Evelyn in fourteen months.
Their relationship deteriorated after Laurel’s death because Evelyn accused Bennett of moving on too quickly with Ramona.
Bennett called.
She answered after six rings.
“What?”
No greeting.
“Evelyn, it’s Bennett.”
“I know.”
“I need to ask about Laurel.”
Silence.
“That usually means trouble.”
“Chloe has a blue key.”
Nothing.
Then Evelyn inhaled sharply.
“Where did she get it?”
“Laurel gave it to her.”
“Is Chloe safe?”
The question came too quickly.
Bennett stared.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Answer me.”
“She’s safe now.”
“Now?”
“Ramona hurt her.”
Evelyn’s voice changed.
“What did she do?”
Bennett gave only the essential facts.
Then:
“Ramona asked Chloe for the key.”
Evelyn swore.
Bennett had never heard her swear.
“What does it open?”
“Come to my house.”
“You’re in Tucson.”
“I’ll meet you halfway.”
“No. Tell me.”
“Not on the phone.”
“Evelyn.”
“Bennett, Laurel made me promise.”
His anger rose.
“So did everyone else, apparently.”
“She was protecting Chloe.”
“From what?”
Evelyn was silent.
Bennett looked at his daughter.
“From Ramona?”
“No.”
That surprised him.
“Then who?”
Evelyn answered:
“From you.”
Bennett stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Laurel did not know what kind of man grief would turn you into.”
“That makes no sense.”
“She loved you.”
“Then why hide my own daughter’s inheritance?”
“Because Hale Meridian was your entire identity.”
Bennett stared.
Evelyn continued.
“Laurel knew that if the company ever became threatened, you might convince yourself Chloe’s money was family money.”
“I would never steal from my daughter.”
“I know that now.”
“But Laurel didn’t?”
“She knew your father.”
The sentence changed everything.
Bennett’s father, Warren Hale, had founded Hale Meridian with him and Laurel.
Warren had been ruthless about business.
Dead now.
Still shaping the family.
“What does the key open?”
Evelyn finally answered.
“A private vault Laurel rented.”
“Where?”
“Phoenix.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“What do you know?”
“Original ownership records.”
Bennett’s heart pounded.
“And a letter for Chloe.”
“Anything else?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Proof that Laurel believed someone inside Hale Meridian was trying to steal Chloe’s shares before Laurel died.”
Bennett looked toward the staircase.
Ramona upstairs.
Martin at the conference table.
Victor Lang pushing the contract.
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Someone had been trying to reach Chloe’s inheritance for years.
And perhaps Ramona had only inherited a plan that began before she ever married Bennett.
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