Chapter 16 - THE CLUE EVERYONE MISSED
Lucas stared at Henry’s note.
Claire stared at Lucas.
Neither spoke.
Finally, Lucas stepped away.
“You think I took it.”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s worse.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I’m tired of being wrong.”
Mason examined the compartment.
“No forced entry.”
“Who knew about it.”
Rosa shook her head.
“I didn’t.”
Lucas said quietly.
“I did.”
Claire’s heart sank.
“My father showed me the panel when I was fourteen.”
There it was.
A secret Lucas had not mentioned.
Again.
Mason asked.
“Did you remove the documents.”
“No.”
“Who else knew.”
“My father.”
“Maybe my mother.”
Then Lucas stopped.
“And Evelyn.”
They found Evelyn in the conservatory.
She did not deny it.
“I took the trust.”
Claire’s anger exploded.
“Why.”
“Because Dad asked me to.”
Everyone froze.
Evelyn reached inside an old piano bench.
She removed a sealed document pouch.
Lucas stared.
“You had it the entire time.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say anything.”
“Dad gave me instructions.”
“When.”
“Three days before he died.”
Claire took the pouch.
It carried Henry’s embossed seal.
The original trust.
Evelyn began crying.
“Dad knew I stole the sixteen million.”
“He also knew Graham helped me.”
“I thought he hated me.”
“Instead, he told me I still had one chance to do something right.”
Henry had asked Evelyn to hide the original document and reveal it only if Claire personally discovered the hidden compartment.
“Why that condition.”
Claire asked.
Evelyn looked at Lucas.
“Because Dad said if Claire reached the box, it meant the family had already turned against her.”
“And she needed to know who chose to stand beside her.”
Claire thought about Lucas sleeping outside her door.
Rosa risking her life.
Evelyn finally confessing.
Henry had built a test.
Mason opened the trust.
The DNA clause Helena relied upon did not exist.
Neither did several restrictions shown in the amended version.
But one clause changed everything.
Graham read it aloud.
“In the event of fraud, coercion, or intentional harm directed toward the beneficiary or guardian, all temporary voting authority is immediately removed from the current trustee.”
Claire looked at Helena.
“You lose control.”
Helena’s face went gray.
“Only if intentional harm is proven.”
Mason nodded.
“And that brings us back to the staircase.”
He placed the forensic report on the table.
“The oil bottle had Lucas’s fingerprints.”
“But we found something underneath them.”
“A partial print.”
Claire leaned forward.
“Whose.”
Mason looked at someone standing behind her.
Claire turned.
Graham Vale had just entered.
May you like
Mason finished.
“Graham’s.”
