Chapter 3 - Caroline's Locked Drawer
Grant reached home in twenty-two minutes.
He found Tyler outside Caroline's old study, filming through a crack in the door with his phone.
"What are you doing?"
Tyler nearly dropped it. "Proof."
"Of what?"
"That she lies."
Grant pushed the door open.
Leah was kneeling beside Caroline's desk. The bottom drawer hung open. Papers covered the rug.
She looked up, startled.
"I can explain."
Tyler stepped past Grant. "Go ahead."
"Not you."
"Why? Because Dad protects you?"
Grant held out his hand. "Phone."
Tyler clenched it. "No."
"Now."
He surrendered it with a glare.
Leah slowly stood. In her hand was a small brass key attached to a faded red ribbon.
Grant recognized it immediately.
Caroline had worn that key around her wrist during the last week of her life.
"Where did you get that?" he asked.
"Mom mailed it to me."
Tyler barked a laugh. "Mom mailed you a key before she died and you forgot to mention it for fourteen months?"
"I didn't get the package until last month. My old landlord forwarded it."
"Convenient."
Leah's voice cracked. "I didn't know what it opened."
Grant took the key.
"And now?"
She pointed toward the built-in bookcase.
Behind a row of old legal volumes was a narrow steel box Grant had never seen.
The key fit.
Inside were three things: a flash drive, a handwritten note, and a photograph of Caroline standing beside Victor in the Mercer Dynamics parking garage.
Tyler moved closer despite himself.
Grant unfolded the note.
His wife's handwriting tilted across the page.
Grant—
If anything happens to me, do not let Victor control Tyler's trust. Do not sign anything he brings you. And please believe Leah. She knows more than she realizes.
The room seemed to tilt.
Tyler read over his shoulder.
"That's fake."
Leah flinched. "Tyler—"
"It's fake!"
Grant looked at the date written in the corner.
Two days before Caroline died.
Tyler backed toward the door. "Uncle Victor said she was confused near the end. He said grief makes people rewrite things."
Grant's eyes snapped to him.
"What else has Victor been telling you?"
Tyler's face closed instantly.
"Nothing."
"Tyler."
"I said nothing."
He left.
Grant plugged the flash drive into an offline laptop.
There was only one file.
An audio recording.
Caroline's voice filled the study.
"Victor, get away from my car."
Then a man's voice answered.
"You should have signed the transfer when I asked."
Leah stopped breathing.
May you like
Grant stared at the screen.
And from the hallway came the soft click of Tyler's bedroom door locking.
