Chapter 4 - The Manager Who Had Remained Silent
Adrian refused to enter the apartment.
He insisted they speak in the stairwell, away from the windows and any devices Lydia’s people might have planted during the break-in.
Nora wanted to accuse him of paranoia.
Then she remembered the threatening note and the missing Crownfire lens.
Adrian leaned against the concrete wall.
“Arthur Vale created the scholarship,” he said. “Not Lydia.”
“Arthur died six years ago,” Claire replied.
“He left instructions in a sealed trust. The scholarship was to be activated if Nora ever submitted a jewelry portfolio under her own name.”
Nora frowned.
“I applied to Halston Institute. I never contacted Aurelia.”
“The school shared the finalists’ portfolios with several private foundations. Your designs were automatically flagged.”
“Why?”
“Because you draw like Evelyn.”
Claire folded her arms.
“Why is Lydia chairwoman?”
“She controls the Vale estate’s charitable board. When the trust activated, she learned Nora had been found.”
“Found?” Nora asked. “I wasn’t missing.”
“To Lydia, you were.”
Adrian looked toward the lower landing before continuing.
“Arthur never believed Evelyn stole the Celestine. He spent years investigating quietly, but the evidence kept disappearing. Witnesses changed their statements. Records were destroyed. Then Arthur became ill.”
“Why didn’t he clear her publicly?”
“Because Lydia threatened to release documents claiming Claire helped Evelyn escape with the necklace.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“Forged documents.”
“Yes. But convincing ones.”
Nora handed Adrian the strip of film.
He examined it beneath the stairwell light.
“I took this photograph.”
“Then who scratched out the third person?”
“I don’t know. The original film disappeared from Arthur’s office.”
“What happened that night?”
Adrian took a long breath.
He and Evelyn had been examining the three authorized replicas when Lydia entered the preparation room with another Crownfire member.
The fourth copy lay on the table.
Evelyn had discovered it inside a private order intended for an overseas buyer. Unlike the official replicas, the fourth copy contained lower-grade diamonds surrounding an unusually accurate imitation of the blue center stone.
“Who was the other Crownfire member?” Nora asked.
Adrian’s gaze settled on the damaged part of the image.
“I never saw the person’s face clearly. The preparation room lights failed seconds after I took the photograph. Someone struck me from behind. When I woke, Evelyn and the original Celestine were gone.”
“You testified against her.”
“I testified that she had been in the room. Lydia told the newspapers I saw Evelyn carrying the necklace.”
“And you let her.”
“I was twenty-four. Lydia had evidence that could have sent my father to prison for financial fraud.”
“Was the evidence real?”
“Yes.”
Nora felt no sympathy.
“You protected your father and destroyed my mother.”
Adrian accepted the judgment without defending himself.
“Yes.”
“Then why help me now?”
“Because your mother saved my life.”
He reached beneath his coat and removed a small black notebook.
“Two weeks after she disappeared, I received this by mail.”
The first pages contained Evelyn’s handwriting. She described discrepancies in the Celestine inventory, secret payments routed through a company called Meridian Holdings, and unusual shipments approved by Lydia.
The final page had been torn out.
“She wrote that the original necklace had not been stolen for its diamonds,” Adrian said. “It contained something hidden inside the clasp.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. Arthur believed it was a micro-storage capsule.”
Mateo leaned closer.
“For documents?”
“Possibly account numbers, client records, or proof of illegal sales.”
Nora thought of the message inside the locket.
The truth is not in the jewel. It is in the hand that copies it.
“Why invite me into the gallery?” she asked. “Why give Lydia the chance to reach me?”
“I tried to cancel the interview after I learned she had personally selected the date. The board overruled me.”
Claire looked at him.
“What does she want?”
“The locket, the brass key, and whatever Evelyn hid before she vanished.”
Nora closed her fingers around the key.
“Do you know what it opens?”
Adrian nodded.
“A private archive beneath Aurelia Gallery.”
“Then we go there before the interview.”
“We can’t. Lydia changed the locks years ago.”
Nora raised the brass key.
“Maybe she couldn’t change this one.”
Adrian looked at it.
For the first time, hope appeared in his expression.
Then a door slammed below them.
Footsteps rushed toward the lobby.
Adrian placed the notebook back inside his coat.
“Do not bring the locket to Aurelia.”
“Lydia expects me to.”
“That is exactly why you shouldn’t.”
He descended the stairs without saying goodbye.
Nora returned to the apartment.
On the kitchen table, Mateo’s laptop showed the scholarship email.
A new message had arrived while they were in the stairwell.
The Aurelia Foundation had changed the interview time from 3:00 p.m. to noon.
May you like
Beneath the formal notice was a handwritten line that could not have come from an automated system.
Wear Evelyn’s locket, or your aunt will be arrested before sunset.
