Chapter 5 - THE TRUST CLAUSE
Rosa pulled Lily deeper into the hidden corridor.
The panel closed behind them.
Red emergency lights flashed along the narrow passage. The alarm was not loud there, only a repeating electronic pulse that seemed to vibrate through the walls.
“Who else knows about these corridors?” Lily asked.
“Diane,” Rosa replied.
“You said she did not know you were here.”
“She knows the passages exist. She does not know which one I used.”
They moved slowly, Lily keeping one hand against the wall for balance.
The corridor descended behind the main staircase and divided near a locked metal gate. Rosa chose the path leading toward the library.
“Marcus will be waiting outside the south entrance,” she said.
“How do you know?”
“He arranged the alarm.”
Lily stopped.
“What?”
“Marcus needed Diane to believe someone had entered through the old service system. She will send security toward the lower corridors.”
“You are using me as bait.”
“No. We are giving you a way out.”
“Then why did you enter the nursery?”
“To warn you before Marcus triggered the alarm.”
“You could have brought the police.”
“With what evidence? Forged-looking papers and the claim of a frightened pregnant woman? Diane has doctors, written evaluations, and staff prepared to say she acted out of concern.”
“We have the camera footage.”
“We have not recovered it.”
Lily looked back at the flashing red light.
“Then I’m not leaving.”
Rosa stared at her.
“I will not abandon the only evidence that can prove what she did.”
“The evidence is not worth your safety.”
“It is not only my safety. She did the same thing to Charles.”
Rosa did not answer.
They reached the library passage.
Through a narrow observation window, Lily could see Diane standing near Charles Calder’s old desk. Two security guards searched the room.
Diane held the antique clock from the west corridor.
Its wooden case had been broken open.
“She found it,” Lily whispered.
“She found one receiver.”
One of the guards handed Diane the brass key.
Diane turned it over in her palm.
“Search the nursery,” she ordered. “Then check the south gate.”
The guards left.
Diane remained alone.
She opened the clock’s hidden compartment and removed a small paper strip.
Lily had not seen it the previous night.
Diane unfolded it.
Her face changed.
“What does it say?” Lily whispered.
Rosa leaned closer to the observation window.
“I cannot see.”
Diane moved to the fireplace and held the strip over a candle.
Before the flame reached it, the library doors opened.
Marcus entered.
“You should not destroy documents in a room with three smoke detectors,” he said.
Diane lowered the paper.
“You set off the passage alarm.”
“Yes.”
“You brought Rosa into my house.”
“It is Ethan’s house.”
Diane gave a small laugh.
“Still repeating that fiction?”
Marcus placed his briefcase on the desk.
“The ownership question will become clearer tomorrow.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
“The Calder Trust board meets.”
Diane’s fingers closed around the paper strip.
“The meeting was scheduled for next month.”
“It has been moved.”
“By whose authority?”
“Mine.”
“You do not control the trust.”
“No. But I control the release of Charles’s final amendment.”
Diane became very still.
Rosa’s eyes widened.
Lily looked at her.
“What amendment?”
Rosa shook her head, warning her to remain silent.
Inside the library, Marcus opened his briefcase and removed a sealed blue envelope.
Diane stared at it.
“That document was revoked.”
“Was it?”
“Charles lacked capacity.”
“That will be difficult to prove if the original camera footage is recovered.”
“You do not have it.”
“Neither do you.”
Diane stepped closer to the desk.
“What is in the amendment?”
“You already know.”
“I know what Charles threatened to do.”
Marcus placed one hand over the envelope.
“The amendment transferred control of the residential trust away from you.”
“To Ethan.”
“To Ethan’s legal spouse.”
Lily pressed her hand against the wall.
Rosa looked at her.
The mansion was not owned jointly by Ethan and Lily.
It was controlled through a trust.
And according to Charles’s amendment, Lily might be the person with legal authority over the house.
Diane’s voice became sharp.
“Ethan was not married when Charles died.”
“The amendment was written to apply upon marriage.”
“He would never give this house to a stranger.”
“He was trying to prevent you from controlling it through your son.”
Diane’s face tightened.
“You told Lily?”
“I have not spoken to Lily about the trust.”
“Then why is she searching the house?”
Marcus looked toward the wall behind which Lily and Rosa were hiding.
For one second, Lily believed he could see them.
“Perhaps,” Marcus said, “she has finally understood that everyone around her is lying.”
The library telephone rang.
Diane answered.
A guard spoke from the other end.
“We found the nurse in the east corridor.”
Diane frowned.
“What nurse?”
“The woman you hired. She was trying to leave with a medical case.”
Diane looked at Marcus.
“Bring her to the library.”
The guard ended the call.
Marcus’s expression became cautious.
“You did not hire her?”
Diane did not answer.
The unfamiliar nurse was escorted into the library.
Her pale-blue clothing was torn at the sleeve from where it had caught on a service door. She clutched the black case against her chest.
Diane approached her.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked frightened.
“You hired me.”
“No.”
“You sent the forms. You gave me the access code.”
“I have never seen you before this week.”
Lily felt the corridor become colder.
If Diane had not hired the nurse, someone else had placed her inside the mansion.
Marcus stepped forward.
“Open the case.”
The nurse held it tighter.
“It contains confidential medical equipment.”
“Open it,” Diane ordered.
The nurse placed the case on the desk.
Inside were no medical instruments.
There were cameras.
Microphones.
Copies of Lily’s emails.
And a sealed glass vial labeled with Lily’s name.
Lily’s breath caught.
Rosa immediately covered her mouth to prevent any sound.
Marcus stared at the contents.
“What is that?” he asked.
The nurse began to cry.
“I was told it was part of the evaluation.”
“Who told you?”
“A man named Mr. Vale.”
Diane’s face turned white.
Marcus noticed.
“You know that name.”
Diane closed the case.
“No one is to leave this house.”
From deeper inside the passage, a door slammed.
Rosa pulled Lily away from the observation window.
“We have to move.”
“Who is Vale?”
May you like
Rosa’s voice trembled.
“The man Charles believed was dead.”
