Chapter 3 - The KeyBrooks looked at his mother as if she had confessed to the crime herself.
“You gave Serena your security key?”
Eleanor nodded.
“Why?”
“She said she wanted access to the home office while you were traveling.”
Serena immediately cut in.
“You said I could use it.”
“For the office.”
“The security room is on the same master key.”
Eleanor looked sick.
“I didn't realize.”
Marcus did.
His face made that clear.
Brooks turned.
“Did you know?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you say anything?”
“I assumed Mrs. Caldwell did.”
Which Mrs. Caldwell?
That was the problem with a family where three women carried the same surname at formal events.
Brooks looked at Serena.
She lifted both hands.
“I didn't give anyone that key.”
“Where is it?”
“In my dresser.”
“Show me.”
Serena's eyes flickered.
Brooks saw.
“So you don't have it.”
“I haven't checked.”
“Let's check.”
They went upstairs.
Serena walked first.
Edwin remained behind with Marcus to secure footage.
Vivian followed.
Eleanor came slowly.
Inside Serena and Brooks's bedroom, Serena opened her jewelry drawer.
No key.
She searched another.
Then another.
Her breathing became faster.
“It was here.”
Vivian folded her arms.
“Convenient.”
Serena snapped,
“Do you enjoy this?”
“No.”
Vivian's voice softened unexpectedly.
“I enjoy my brother not going to prison for beating an innocent man because you staged something.”
Serena stared at her.
Brooks said,
“Vivian.”
“No.”
She looked at Serena.
“What were you trying to accomplish?”
Serena's face hardened.
“You've hated me since the wedding.”
“That isn't an answer.”
Brooks opened Serena's bedside drawer.
Papers.
Medication.
Receipts.
Nothing.
Then he saw a white envelope beneath a book.
His name.
Handwritten.
Not Serena's handwriting.
He pulled it out.
Serena moved too fast.
“Don't.”
Brooks stopped.
“Why?”
“It isn't yours.”
“My name is on it.”
“It was delivered to me.”
“By who?”
Serena didn't answer.
Brooks opened it.
Inside:
A photocopy of a trust document.
Several paragraphs highlighted.
One line circled.
Upon dissolution of marriage, spouse retains no voting interest or beneficial control in Caldwell Holdings.
Another.
In the event of Brooks Caldwell's death prior to producing a biological heir, controlling voting interest transfers to Vivian Caldwell.
Brooks looked at Serena.
She stared at the floor.
Vivian whispered,
“What the hell?”
Brooks turned pages.
The copy appeared incomplete.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
Edwin knows where the original is.
Brooks read it twice.
Then looked at Serena.
“Who gave you this?”
Silence.
“Serena.”
She swallowed.
“It came in the mail.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“No return address?”
“No.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought it was fake.”
Brooks laughed bitterly.
“So you believed it enough to disable security and frame Edwin?”
“I did not frame him because of this.”
“Then why?”
“He threatened me!”
Edwin's voice came from the doorway.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
He had followed.
His collar was still wrinkled from Brooks shoving him.
But his voice remained calm.
“You confronted me about that document yesterday.”
Serena went pale.
Brooks looked between them.
“What?”
Edwin continued.
“She asked whether your father's final trust could be challenged.”
Serena snapped,
“You're lying.”
Edwin looked at Brooks.
“She asked what happens to her if you die.”
Silence.
Brooks's face changed.
Serena shook her head violently.
“No.”
“She said it as a hypothetical.”
“It was.”
Edwin continued,
“I told her I was not the family's attorney.”
Brooks asked,
“Then?”
“I told her if she had legal questions, she should speak with you.”
Serena whispered,
“And then you said I wouldn't get anything.”
Edwin looked at her.
“I said your husband is alive, and talking about inheritance as though he isn't is inappropriate.”
Brooks stared.
Serena's accusation suddenly had another shape.
Not merely retaliation.
Removal.
If Edwin knew something about the trust, discrediting him could make any warning he gave Brooks seem like revenge.
Vivian saw it too.
“You needed him gone.”
“No.”
“You accuse him of touching you, Brooks fires him, maybe police arrest him…”
“I said no!”
“…and then nobody believes anything Edwin says about the trust.”
Serena looked toward Brooks.
“Please.”
Brooks wanted to.
That was the worst part.
A piece of him still wanted an explanation that restored his marriage to what it had been an hour earlier.
But the torn dress now looked calculated.
The disabled camera looked calculated.
The copied trust looked calculated.
He asked,
“Where did you get the document?”
Serena began crying.
“I don't know.”
Edwin looked at the photocopy.
Then his face changed.
He stepped closer.
“May I?”
Brooks handed it over.
Edwin examined the bottom margin.
A tiny black mark.
Almost invisible.
“This copy came from your father's private archive.”
Eleanor stood.
“That is impossible.”
Edwin pointed.
“Arthur marked confidential copies with a crescent stamp.”
Vivian leaned closer.
There it was.
Faint gray crescent.
Brooks asked,
“Where is the archive?”
Eleanor and Edwin looked at each other again.
Brooks's patience snapped.
“Stop doing that.”
His mother stiffened.
“Doing what?”
“Looking at each other like I'm twelve.”
Silence.
“Where is my father's archive?”
Eleanor answered.
“Off-site.”
“Where?”
“A storage vault in Pasadena.”
“Who has access?”
Edwin said,
“Your mother.”
Eleanor added,
“And I gave one temporary authorization six months ago.”
Brooks felt something drop inside him.
“To who?”
His mother closed her eyes.
“To Serena.”
Serena whispered,
“You asked me to retrieve your wedding albums.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“Yes.”
Brooks stared.
“You were inside Dad's archive six months ago?”
“For ten minutes.”
Edwin's expression said he didn't believe that.
Then Marcus called from downstairs.
“Mr. Caldwell?”
Brooks answered on speaker.
“Yes?”
“I checked the security-room physical key cylinder.”
“What about it?”
“Someone made a duplicate.”
Everyone became still.
Marcus continued.
“The lock records micro-scratches from a newly cut key.”
Brooks looked at Serena.
She shook her head.
Then Marcus added,
“And there's something else.”
“What?”
“I recovered a deleted video from the service staircase.”
Brooks's pulse accelerated.
“The man who entered the security room removed his cap before leaving.”
“Can you see his face?”
“Yes.”
Brooks held his breath.
May you like
Marcus said,
“You know him.”
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