Chapter 10 - The Husband Who Never Died)
Charles Caldwell had supposedly drowned in Lake Mercer in 1989.
His body was never recovered.
Victoria had been twenty-six.
Pregnant with Julian.
According to the family story, grief nearly destroyed her.
She later remarried Henry Vance, who adopted Julian and gave him the Vance surname.
Henry died when Julian was nineteen.
Victoria never married again.
But Package Two showed Charles alive decades after his supposed death.
“What does this have to do with Samuel?” Nora asked.
Benjamin sat slowly.
“Charles worked for him.”
Nora stared.
“What?”
“Samuel hired Charles as a junior accountant.”
Cole began taking notes.
“When?”
“1986.”
“Was Charles stealing?”
Benjamin nodded.
“Samuel suspected him of moving money through property accounts.”
Nora understood.
“The same method Victoria used.”
“Yes.”
“Then Charles disappeared.”
“Three days before Samuel planned to confront him.”
Cole looked at the photographs.
“And Victoria spent decades sending money to him.”
“Apparently.”
Nora’s stomach turned.
Eleven point eight million dollars.
Not luxury spending.
Not greed alone.
Payments.
To a dead man.
“Why would Grandpa put the evidence in the lake house?”
Benjamin looked toward her.
“Because Charles drowned there.”
Silence filled the room.
Nora whispered, “You think he never drowned.”
“No.”
“I think Samuel knew he didn’t.”
The third hard drive contained architectural drawings.
Lake house.
Original structure.
Wine cellar.
Utility room.
Then a lower level Nora had never seen.
Archive Chamber B.
Cole enlarged it.
Access appeared to be behind the old stone fireplace.
Nora remembered Victoria ordering contractors to remove that fireplace two months after Samuel’s funeral.
She had claimed it was unsafe.
Nora had stopped them.
Now she understood.
Victoria had not been renovating.
She had been searching.
Cole’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression sharpened.
“When?”
He stood.
“Lock down the property.”
Nora looked at him.
“What happened?”
Cole ended the call.
“Someone broke into the lake house.”
“Victoria?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
“Did they get inside the hidden room?”
Cole grabbed his coat.
“That’s what I’m going to find out.”
Nora caught his sleeve.
“Take me.”
“No.”
“It’s my house.”
“You’re in a wheelchair.”
“It’s my grandfather’s archive.”
“You’re also the victim in an active investigation.”
Nora stared at him.
“Detective, everyone in this story knows more about my family than I do.”
Cole hesitated.
Nora continued.
“I’m done waiting in rooms while other people decide what I’m allowed to know.”
Two hours later, Nora returned to Lake Mercer.
The house stood beneath a hard blue sky.
Police vehicles covered the driveway.
Yellow tape crossed the entrance.
The last time Nora had been there, she left in an ambulance.
Now Julian was in jail.
Victoria was under investigation.
And somewhere beneath the house was a room Samuel had hidden for decades.
Cole helped Nora’s wheelchair across the threshold.
The living room was destroyed.
The fireplace had been smashed open.
Behind it was a steel door.
Fresh scratches covered the lock.
Someone had tried to force entry.
Failed.
Nora looked down.
On the floor lay a pearl.
Victoria wore pearls almost every day.
Cole picked it up with gloved fingers.
Nora whispered, “She was here.”
Then a voice came from behind them.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
A gray-haired man stood in the doorway with his hands raised.
Nora recognized him instantly.
Thomas Reed.
Alive.
He looked at the pearl.
May you like
Then at Nora.
“That isn’t Victoria’s.”
