Chapter 7 - The Message Behind the Camera)
Lauren returned the next morning.
She arrived at Kensington Estate in an old blue sedan and refused to step inside until Rachel came outside alone.
Rachel approached slowly.
Lauren Pike looked younger than thirty, but fear had aged her face.
She held a small envelope.
"You called me yesterday," Lauren said.
"Yes."
"I wrote that note."
Rachel stopped.
"The one behind the camera?"
Lauren nodded.
"How did you know I'd be here?"
"I didn't."
"Then why my name?"
Lauren looked toward the house.
"Because Amelia chose you."
Rachel stared at her.
"What?"
"Not you specifically. Your agency."
Rachel felt confused.
Lauren opened the envelope.
Inside was a printed email.
Amelia had sent it eleven days before her death.
To Lauren.
If anything happens to me, the next caregiver for Elara must come from Monroe Childcare Services. Ask for Rachel Monroe if she is available. I interviewed her before Elara was born and trusted her.
Rachel read the message twice.
"I never interviewed Amelia."
Lauren shook her head.
"Not formally."
Then Rachel remembered.
Almost two years earlier, while working for another family in Washington, she had met a pregnant woman at a charity event. The woman had spent twenty minutes asking Rachel questions about childcare.
Rachel had never known her name.
"She was wearing a green coat," Rachel whispered.
Lauren nodded.
"That was Amelia."
Rachel looked toward the estate.
Amelia had chosen her before Elara was born.
"Why?"
"Because you told her you would document everything."
Rachel remembered the conversation.
The pregnant stranger had asked what Rachel would do if a wealthy parent ordered her to ignore an injury.
Rachel had answered that children did not become less deserving of protection because their parents were powerful.
Amelia had smiled.
Lauren touched Rachel's arm.
"She remembered."
Inside the house, Nathan listened to everything.
Lauren told him the truth she had been carrying for eight months.
Amelia had discovered that Victoria was using a charitable foundation as a pipeline for money.
The Kensington-Langford Children's Initiative received donations from Amelia's family trust.
Several grants had been paid to nonexistent therapy centers.
Those centers transferred money into shell companies controlled by Victoria.
Gregory Shaw helped hide the transactions by gaining access to Amelia's devices and security records.
"How much?" Nathan asked.
Lauren looked at him.
"Amelia believed at least six million."
Nathan closed his eyes.
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"She tried."
"When?"
"The week before she died."
Nathan stared at her.
Lauren's voice softened.
"You were in Chicago."
Nathan remembered.
A hotel acquisition.
Three days away.
Amelia had called twice during meetings.
He had texted that he would call later.
He never did.
The guilt struck him visibly.
Rachel stepped closer.
"What happened on November 6?"
Lauren took a breath.
"Amelia confronted Victoria in the dressing room. She told her she had evidence."
"We recovered part of that."
Lauren nodded.
"Victoria forced her to go to the bank."
Nathan looked up.
"Forced?"
"Shaw threatened to create evidence that Nathan was abusing prescription medication."
Nathan laughed once without humor.
"I don't take prescription medication."
"Evidence doesn't have to be true."
Rachel thought of the guardianship petition.
Lauren continued.
"Amelia went to the bank under pressure. But she had already removed the important drive."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Nathan looked furious.
"So Victoria stole the remaining documents."
"Yes."
"And three days later Amelia died."
Lauren's eyes filled.
"She called me that morning."
Nathan stopped moving.
"What did she say?"
"She said she was meeting someone who could help expose the theft."
"Who?"
"She wouldn't tell me."
"Where?"
"Near Charlottesville."
Nathan's face changed.
Amelia's accident had occurred outside Charlottesville.
Lauren reached into her bag.
"I saved this."
She produced an old phone.
"Amelia left me a voicemail."
Nathan could barely speak.
"Play it."
Lauren did.
Amelia's voice filled the study.
"Lauren, if I don't come back, please make sure someone protects Elara. Nathan won't understand Victoria until Victoria makes him understand. Tell him I'm sorry I waited. And tell him the blue room isn't blue."
The message ended.
Nathan stared ahead.
Rachel frowned.
"The blue room isn't blue."
Lauren shook her head.
"I never understood."
Nathan did.
He stood.
"Amelia called the old nursery the blue room."
Rachel followed him upstairs.
The room had been redecorated before Elara was born.
It was now cream and pale green.
Nathan opened the door.
"The original nursery had blue wallpaper."
Rachel looked around.
"The blue room isn't blue."
Nathan walked to the wall behind an antique cabinet.
He pulled it away.
A section of wallpaper remained hidden behind it.
Blue.
Rachel knelt.
There was a seam.
Nathan removed the panel.
Behind it was a shallow cavity.
Inside sat a metal box.
Nathan's hands shook as he lifted it out.
The brass key from Elara's crib fit perfectly.
Inside they found a passport.
Several bank documents.
A handwritten ledger.
And a sealed envelope addressed to Nathan.
No external drive.
Nathan opened the envelope.
The first line stopped him.
Nathan, if Victoria ever tries to take Elara from you, then she knows I found out who Elara's real beneficiary is.
Rachel looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
Nathan read further.
May you like
His face went white.
Then he whispered, "The forty-eight million isn't the real inheritance."
