Chapter 12 - A Friend of the FamilyI wanted to call Evelyn and demand an explanation. Tessa told us to preserve the recording first. Dad barely spoke while we watched the footage again.

"I gave Evelyn a guest access code years ago," he admitted. "After my father died."

"Did you ever revoke it?"

"No."

Mom raised an eyebrow. "The world's smartest businessman, everybody."

Dad almost smiled. It vanished quickly.

We arranged to meet Evelyn at her townhouse. Tessa came with us. So did Denise, who insisted the truth about Curtis mattered more than the feelings of the people who had once dined beside Grandpa.

Evelyn received us in a bright sitting room filled with photographs of gala dinners. She glanced at Denise and stiffened.

"You brought her?"

"Her husband died," I said. "She's part of this."

Tessa set a still image from the desk camera on the coffee table. "We need Samuel's keys back."

Evelyn stared at the picture and sighed. "I was protecting them."

"From whom?" Dad asked.

"From Marcus. From Adrian. From anyone looking to use Samuel's mistakes."

"Grandpa's mistakes?" I said.

Evelyn opened a sideboard and removed the key case. She laid it beside the photograph of the warehouse.

"Samuel discovered that the charity shipments were being used to conceal invoices for goods that never reached the stores. He suspected Marcus. But he also found signatures he'd placed on approvals without reading them. He feared he'd helped them without knowing."

Dad shook his head. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"He tried. You were chasing expansion funding. Every conversation became a fight."

Evelyn's eyes glistened, but Denise remained unmoved.

"Where's the cabinet key?" Denise asked.

Evelyn opened the case. It held three old keys, but the smallest hook was empty.

"It was here," she whispered.

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Just then her housekeeper appeared, pale and breathless. "Mrs. Cross, someone left a package at the gate."

Inside was the missing key, taped to a photograph of Evelyn's grandson leaving school.