Chapter 5 - The Missing Signature
Security locked down the mansion within minutes.
The power failure had lasted only twenty-eight seconds.
Long enough for someone to remove the authorization.
Adrian stood in the study beside Brennan and Vanessa while the head of security reviewed camera feeds.
Eleanor and the household staff waited in the foyer.
“No one leaves,” Vanessa ordered.
Her voice trembled with carefully controlled anger.
The security chief, Nathan Cole, was not related to the family despite the surname. He had served in military intelligence before working for Eleanor.
He knew her face.
Eleanor remained in the shadow and silently prayed he would not recognize her through the disguise.
Nathan studied each person.
“Every exterior door remained locked during the outage.”
“Then someone inside took it,” Vanessa said.
Adrian looked at her.
“It was only a business document.”
“It contained confidential information.”
Brennan adjusted his cuffs.
“We should search the staff.”
Rosa stiffened.
Lily’s face became pale.
Eleanor watched Brennan carefully.
His concern was too measured.
He did not look like a man whose transaction had been delayed.
He looked like a man directing attention.
Nathan began searching the study.
Beneath the desk, he found the leather folder.
The acquisition papers remained inside.
The authorization page was gone.
Vanessa turned toward the staff.
“Search their rooms.”
Adrian frowned.
“That isn’t necessary.”
“One of them may have stolen from us.”
“From me,” Adrian corrected. “This is my house.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Then she softened.
“Of course. I’m trying to protect you.”
Nathan looked toward Eleanor.
For half a second, recognition passed through his eyes.
Then it vanished.
He approached her last.
“Name?”
“Evelyn Hart.”
“How long have you worked here?”
“Since this morning.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“She was near the study before the outage.”
Eleanor held her gaze.
“So were you.”
Rosa inhaled sharply.
Vanessa’s expression hardened.
“Empty your pockets.”
Adrian looked uncomfortable.
Eleanor obeyed.
A cloth.
A small notebook.
A packet of tissues.
The brass archive key remained hidden inside the inner hem of her uniform.
Vanessa picked up the notebook.
“What is this?”
“Cleaning instructions.”
She opened it.
Eleanor had written ordinary household notes on the first pages. Beneath them, in a shorthand Vanessa could not understand, were observations about the Bellamy box, the authorization, and Brennan.
Vanessa flipped through the pages.
“These symbols?”
“My grocery shorthand.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Nathan took the notebook.
“I don’t see the missing document.”
Vanessa’s eyes moved to Eleanor’s collar.
For one alarming second, Eleanor thought she had noticed the recorder.
Then Lily cried out from across the foyer.
Everyone turned.
A folded page protruded from the pocket of her apron.
Vanessa walked toward her and pulled it free.
The missing authorization.
Lily stared at it in horror.
“I didn’t put that there.”
Vanessa opened the page.
Adrian’s signature was visible at the bottom.
Brennan exhaled with what looked like relief.
Vanessa held the document up.
“She stole it.”
“No,” Lily said. “I swear.”
“You were seen near my sitting room last week. A bracelet disappeared. Now this.”
“I didn’t take the bracelet.”
Vanessa turned to Nathan.
“Call the police.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Wait.”
“What is there to wait for?”
“Lily has worked here for three years.”
“And that makes her incapable of theft?”
“It means she deserves to be heard.”
Lily looked at Adrian with desperate gratitude.
Vanessa’s eyes flashed.
“She has been lying to all of us.”
Eleanor watched the scene with growing certainty.
The document had been planted.
But why?
If Vanessa wanted Adrian’s authorization, she already had his signature.
Why create a theft?
Then Eleanor understood.
The paper Lily carried was not the original.
It was bait.
A reason to remove Lily before she could speak about the blue travel bag.
The front doorbell rang.
Two police officers stood outside.
Vanessa had called them before anyone found the page.
She had known exactly where it would appear.
As Nathan opened the door, Eleanor quietly activated the transmitter beneath her brooch.
A message went to her attorney.
Do not intervene yet. Prepare emergency review of Adrian’s accounts. Watch Charles Brennan.
The younger officer entered the foyer.
His partner remained outside.
Vanessa handed him the document.
“This employee stole confidential financial records.”
Lily began to cry.
The officer looked at Adrian.
“Are you the property owner?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to file a complaint?”
Vanessa answered before he could.
“Yes.”
The officer looked back at Adrian.
He hesitated.
Eleanor saw the conflict in his face.
Then Brennan stepped close and whispered something.
Adrian’s shoulders lowered.
“I want the situation investigated,” he said.
Lily stared at him as if he had struck her.
The officer asked her to come with him for questioning.
As she passed Eleanor, she whispered four words.
“Check the blue room wall.”
Eleanor did not react.
But Vanessa had heard.
Her face changed.
May you like
She turned toward Brennan.
And for the first time, Eleanor saw fear.
