Suddenly, the blinding glare of headlights swept across the library walls.
I froze. A car was pulling up the main circular driveway at the front of the house. I scrambled to push the floorboard back into place, grabbed the pouch, and shoved it deep into my pocket. I crawled behind the heavy mahogany desk just as I heard the front door of the house unlock.
Heavy footsteps echoed in the foyer, followed by the sharp click of high heels on the marble floor.
“I don’t care what time it is, Richard, you need to find a judge who owes you a favor!” Vanessa’s voice rang out, shrill and frantic.
The library doors swung open. The overhead chandelier flared to life, flooding the room with brilliant light. I pressed myself flat against the back panel of the desk, barely breathing.
“Vanessa, you need to calm down,” Richard Vance’s voice replied. He sounded exhausted. “We cannot get a drill order based on an executor claim when a living trust supersedes it. The bank manager was right. If you want into that box, you either need Julian’s consent, or we need to wait for probate to declare him unfit.”
“We don’t have time for probate!” Vanessa shouted, pacing in front of the fireplace, mere feet from where I was hiding. “You don’t understand! The red ledger is in that box! I searched this entire house, and it’s the only thing missing.”
“The ledger?” Vance asked, his voice dropping an octave. “Vanessa, you told me the financial transfers were documented and approved by Arthur. You told me the offshore accounts were his idea to avoid estate taxes.”
“Of course they weren't his idea!” she snapped, the sound of glass clinking as she poured herself a drink from the decanter on the side table. “Arthur was a dinosaur. He wanted to give half the company to charity and leave the commercial properties to that miserable, ungrateful son of his. Two years ago, when his health started failing, I took control. I forged his signature on the trust transfers. I liquidated the educational funds to make it look like Julian was stealing. I set it up perfectly.”
I covered my mouth with my hand, the horror of what I was hearing threatening to make me gasp out loud.
“You forged his signature?” Vance’s voice rose in panic. “Vanessa, that is federal fraud. If that ledger contains his original accounting and notes—”
“It contains everything!” she interrupted. “It contains every real asset, every password, every journal entry where he tracked what I was doing. I thought he was too weak to notice. But he knew. He was playing sick, letting me think I was winning, while he documented every single dollar I moved. He put the ledger in that box, and he changed the access rules three days before he died to trap me.”
She slammed her glass down. “I need Julian’s signature on that waiver. If he signs the liability release, the estate is sealed. No audits. No investigations. I need you to threaten him with whatever it takes. Put him in jail if you have to.”
“If that ledger sees the light of day, I will be disbarred, and you will go to federal prison,” Vance said, his voice shaking. “We need to find him.”
I had heard enough. I needed to get out of the house and straight to the police. I slowly shifted my weight, preparing to crawl toward the open window while their backs were turned.
But my wet shoe slipped on the polished wood floor.
It wasn't a loud noise, just a sharp squeak of rubber against oak, but in the tense silence of the room, it sounded like a gunshot.
The pacing stopped.
“Did you hear that?” Vanessa whispered.
I didn't wait. I bolted from behind the desk, sprinting toward the open window.
“Hey!” Vance shouted.
I vaulted onto the windowsill, but my jacket caught on the broken metal latch. I violently yanked myself forward, tearing the fabric, and tumbled out into the mud and rain of the garden.
“He’s outside! Julian is outside!” Vanessa shrieked from the window. “Call the police! Tell them he broke in! Tell them he assaulted me!”
I scrambled to my feet, my hands caked in cold mud, and sprinted blindly into the dark, the silver key burning a hole in my pocket. The trap was set, but now I was the one running for my life.