Chapter 3 - The Missing Page)
The missing page should have been impossible.
The inventory ledger had remained in the north gallery since 1987.
Each artifact in the Caradonna collection had a handwritten record.
Acquisition date.
Appraisal value.
Restoration history.
Storage location.
The wedding vase occupied page 214.
Page 214 was gone.
Sebastian stood over the open ledger while the security director, Thomas Reed, examined the binding.
"It was cut out," Thomas said.
"Recently?"
"Very."
Elisa touched the rough inner edge.
"Who had access?"
"Three people besides you."
"Names."
Thomas hesitated.
"Lucinda Hale. Preston Hale. And your father, before he died."
Sebastian's jaw tightened.
"Anyone else?"
"Your first wife used your credentials several times during her illness."
Leo, standing near the doorway, heard that.
"My mom came in here?"
Sebastian looked at him.
"Apparently."
Thomas nodded.
"I checked older logs. Anna accessed the gallery at least seven times during the final six months before she entered the hospital."
Elisa looked at the vase.
"What was she doing?"
"No cameras inside the gallery back then."
Sebastian walked to the shelf where page 214 should have been.
"Find every copy of the inventory."
Thomas nodded.
"There should be digital records."
"Should be?"
"The collection database was migrated five years ago. Some historical scans were damaged."
"When?"
Thomas looked uncomfortable.
"Three weeks after Anna died."
Silence filled the gallery.
Leo whispered, "That's not normal, right?"
No one answered immediately.
Sebastian crouched beside him.
"Go find Mrs. Parker."
Mrs. Parker was Leo's tutor.
"I'm not a baby."
"I know."
"Then stop sending me away whenever things get important."
Sebastian looked at him.
Leo continued.
"This is about Mom."
That sentence landed harder than Sebastian expected.
He stood slowly.
"Stay beside Elisa."
Leo nodded.
Thomas left to search the archives.
Elisa walked around the display.
"If Anna hid something inside this vase, how would she have opened it?"
Sebastian studied the ceramic.
"Maybe she didn't."
Elisa pointed toward the seam.
"Someone modified the bottom."
"Can you tell when?"
"Not without examining it properly."
"Then examine it."
Lucinda's voice interrupted them.
"Absolutely not."
She entered with Preston behind her.
Sebastian did not move.
Lucinda approached.
"That vase is insured for nearly three million dollars."
Elisa looked at her.
"You seem unusually informed."
"I manage the family collection."
Sebastian raised an eyebrow.
"Since when?"
"Since your father stopped caring."
Preston folded his arms.
"This is becoming ridiculous."
Sebastian pointed toward the ledger.
"Page 214 is missing."
For the first time, Preston's confidence flickered.
Lucinda remained composed.
"Old books lose pages."
"With knives?"
No response.
Sebastian continued.
"Anna accessed this gallery seven times before she died."
Lucinda's eyes moved toward Leo.
Sebastian noticed.
"Don't look at him."
Lucinda returned her gaze to Sebastian.
"What exactly are you accusing us of?"
"Nothing yet."
Preston laughed.
"That's convenient."
Elisa stepped between them.
"We're asking questions."
Preston looked at her.
"You're marrying into this family in four days. You may want to learn when something isn't your business."
Sebastian's voice became quiet.
"Everything that affects my son is her business."
Preston's jaw tightened.
Lucinda touched his arm.
"Enough."
She looked at Sebastian.
"If you want to damage the vase because a sick woman wandered into the gallery years ago, that's your choice."
Leo stiffened.
Sebastian saw it.
"Don't speak about Anna like that."
Lucinda sighed.
"I wasn't insulting her."
"You were."
"No. I'm reminding you that during her final months, Anna was taking medication powerful enough to affect judgment."
Leo stepped forward.
"My mom wasn't crazy."
Lucinda's expression softened falsely.
"I didn't say she was."
"You meant it."
Elisa put a hand on Leo's shoulder.
Preston scoffed.
"This is exactly why children shouldn't be involved."
Sebastian turned.
"Leave."
Preston stared at him.
"What?"
"Both of you."
"Sebastian."
"Now."
Lucinda took Preston's arm.
They walked out.
At the doorway, she stopped.
"The vase belongs at the wedding."
Sebastian answered, "Why do you care?"
Lucinda looked back.
For one moment, something almost honest appeared in her face.
"Because some things were never meant to be opened."
Then she left.
Leo stared after her.
"That's basically what villains say right before something terrible happens."
Elisa almost smiled.
Sebastian did not.
Two hours later, Thomas returned with a digital scan.
Not of page 214.
Of page 213.
At the bottom, written in Anna's handwriting, was a note.
Moved item from east vault at Matteo's request. Temporary internal storage approved.
Beside the sentence, Anna had drawn a tiny blue circle.
Elisa stared at it.
"Why would she write on an inventory sheet?"
Sebastian shook his head.
Leo leaned closer.
"That's not a circle."
Elisa looked at him.
"What is it?"
Leo smiled faintly.
"It's a zero."
He pulled a small notebook from his pocket.
On the first page was a drawing Anna had made for him years earlier.
A treasure map from one of their games.
Every hiding place had been marked with the same blue symbol.
A zero with a short line through the center.
Leo whispered, "Mom used that when she wanted me to know something was hidden."
Sebastian looked toward the vase.
For the first time, he believed his son completely.
May you like
Anna had hidden something.
And Lucinda knew.
