Chapter 2 - THE MISSING KEY
Guests shouted and pushed toward the doors.
Ethan kept one arm around me while security guards tried to restore order. Eleanor remained on the staircase, looking shocked in exactly the way a person looks when she has practiced surprise in a mirror.
“The power failure must have caused panic,” she said.
“You caused panic when you pushed Claire,” Ethan answered.
Victor stepped between them. “Watch your tone in my home.”
“This was my father’s home,” I said.
Victor turned toward me. “Your father left the estate to Eleanor.”
“That is what she told everyone.”
The police arrived within minutes. Detective Lena Morales separated the witnesses and ordered the ballroom closed. The guest who saw the push identified Eleanor without hesitation.
Eleanor’s lawyer appeared before the officers had finished taking names.
That told me she had expected trouble.
I sat in the library while a paramedic checked my ribs. Nothing appeared broken, but every breath hurt. Ethan stood nearby, refusing to leave.
“You knew I was coming tonight?” I asked.
He nodded. “Your email said you needed help.”
“I sent that message four days ago.”
“I was in London. I came straight from the airport.”
Ethan Cross had been my closest friend before I left Nashville seven years earlier. He had also been the last person my father trusted outside the family.
Detective Morales entered carrying a clear evidence bag.
“We found this under the staircase.”
Inside was the chain from my father’s watch.
The hidden key had been torn from it.
“Who touched you during the blackout?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Someone grabbed my hand.”
Ethan looked toward the ballroom. “Security cameras?”
Victor appeared in the doorway. “Disabled for renovation.”
“All of them?” the detective asked.
“Tonight was the first event after the system upgrade.”
“Convenient,” Ethan said.
Victor’s expression tightened.
Rosa entered with a tray of water. As she placed a glass before me, she slipped a folded note beneath the napkin.
I waited until everyone looked away.
The handwriting was shaky.
THE KEY OPENS THE ROOM BEHIND THE PORTRAIT. DO NOT TRUST THE FAMILY LAWYER.
I looked up at Rosa.
She gave the smallest nod.
Then a crash sounded from the west hallway.
We ran toward it.
The portrait of my father had been pulled from the wall. Behind it stood a narrow steel door.
The lock had been forced open.
Inside, the hidden room was empty except for a burning metal box.
Ethan reached for the extinguisher.
On the floor beside the flames lay a photograph of my father and Eleanor.
Across Eleanor’s face, someone had written:
May you like
SHE KILLED HIM.
She Came Back
