Chapter 5 - the woman behind the locked door
Hannah could not sleep.
At two in the morning, she returned to the library.
She opened her father's desk.
The drawer containing the handwritten note was empty.
Someone had taken it.
She heard the elevator moving.
The private elevator connecting the lower floor to the library.
Hannah stepped into the hallway.
The elevator doors opened.
No one stood inside.
But there was a sound from below.
She descended.
The basement had never been part of the regular house.
Richard had kept it locked.
Hannah used the key from the lake house.
A door opened.
Inside was an archive.
Files covered the walls.
Photographs.
Financial records.
Medical reports.
Legal documents.
And hundreds of letters.
One folder had her name on it.
Hannah opened it.
The first document was dated twenty-two years earlier.
It was a custody agreement.
Her mother's name appeared on the first page.
Hannah kept reading.
Then she saw Vivian's name.
Vivian had been appointed temporary guardian.
Not after her mother's death.
Before it.
Hannah's hands went cold.
A second document revealed something worse.
Richard had filed a petition to regain custody.
The petition had been withdrawn.
Hannah knew why.
She had been told her father abandoned her.
The documents told a different story.
He had tried to take her.
Someone had stopped him.
The final page contained a handwritten note from Samuel.
Richard,
If Vivian discovers the original evidence, she will destroy everything.
Keep Hannah away from the estate until she is old enough to understand.
Hannah heard footsteps.
She closed the folder.
Someone was coming.
She hid behind a shelf.
The door opened.
Vivian entered.
She was not alone.
Caleb followed her.
“Did you find it?” Caleb asked.
Vivian shook her head.
“Not yet.”
“What if Hannah already has it?”
May you like
Vivian looked toward the shelves.
“Then we have to make sure she never gets the chance to read it.”
