Chapter 8 - The Contract in the Wall
Victor announced the sale of Blackwood House three days after Rose’s funeral.
The buyer was a development company that planned to divide the property into luxury residences. Demolition permits had already been requested for Haven House and several cottages on the eastern grounds.
The closing was scheduled for Friday.
Evelyn had four days to stop it.
She and Nathan returned to the red room after midnight.
Victor’s security guards patrolled the main halls, but Rose’s hidden passage allowed them to enter through the unused east wing.
The ledger boxes had been removed.
The cassette player was gone.
Someone had painted over the symbol on the steel door.
“They’re erasing everything,” Evelyn said.
“Not everything.”
Nathan pointed to the baseboard.
One section had been replaced more recently than the rest.
They removed it and found a narrow metal tube inside the wall.
The tube contained an original trust agreement signed by Rose, Claire, and two witnesses.
The Blackwood Preservation Trust.
The document stated that Blackwood House and the Haven House property could never be sold while any surviving child of Lena Vale remained alive.
Evelyn read the sentence several times.
“Then Victor’s sale is invalid.”
“Only if we can prove this document is genuine.”
“It has signatures.”
“Martin filed a revocation six years ago. He will claim this is a draft.”
“How do we prove otherwise?”
Nathan examined the final page.
“The Hart notary seal. Rose used a custom stamp for private trusts. The original impression would match the wax on this document.”
“Where is the seal?”
A handwritten note had been rolled inside the metal tube.
The seal sleeps where Celeste never listened.
Evelyn knew immediately.
Rose kept an antique music box on her bedroom mantel. Whenever Celeste visited, Rose played the same lullaby.
Celeste always complained about it.
By morning, the music box had disappeared.
Victor claimed the estate appraisers had removed it.
The appraisers denied receiving it.
Celeste refused to answer Evelyn’s calls.
That evening, Victor invited Evelyn to meet him in the greenhouse.
He stood among Rose’s winter roses with a glass of whiskey in his hand.
“You’re searching for something,” he said.
“So are you.”
Victor smiled.
“Rose created games because she enjoyed watching people misunderstand her.”
“She created evidence because you stole from her.”
“Be careful. Accusations become expensive when made against the wrong person.”
“You forged her signatures.”
“You cannot prove that.”
“Not yet.”
Victor placed the glass on a stone table.
“I have the music box.”
Evelyn kept her expression neutral.
“What do you want?”
“The photograph from behind the portrait.”
“Why?”
“Because it belongs to my wife.”
“It shows my mother.”
“It shows a mistake that should have remained buried.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“You said you had the music box.”
“I also know where Claire is.”
The greenhouse seemed to contract around her.
“You’re lying.”
Victor removed his phone and displayed a photograph.
A woman stood outside a roadside motel.
Her face was turned toward the camera.
She looked almost exactly like Claire in Rose’s portrait, only older.
The timestamp was from that morning.
“Give me the photograph and everything you took from the red room,” Victor said. “I will give you the music box and Claire’s location.”
Evelyn had activated the recorder on her own phone before entering.
“What happens if I refuse?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Then Claire will vanish again.”
He moved close enough that Evelyn could smell the whiskey on his breath.
“You still don’t understand the danger. Claire is not the woman you need to fear.”
“Who is?”
“Lena.”
“My mother?”
Victor’s eyes shifted toward the greenhouse door.
“Yes.”
The door opened.
Celeste stood there holding Rose’s music box.
May you like
Her face was pale.
“Victor,” she said, “tell her what Lena did to the second baby.”
