Chapter 5 - Grant Comes Home
Grant Caldwell arrived at the mansion twenty-seven minutes later in a gray rental car and no coat.
He walked through the party without looking at the ruined cake or the scorched handbag on the patio stones.
He went straight upstairs.
Harrison met him in the hall.
The brothers stared at each other.
Four years earlier, their last conversation had ended with Harrison telling Grant never to come back after Grant accused Thomas of hiding money from minority investors. Thomas had died before the family repaired the damage.
Now Grant looked older, thinner, and exhausted.
“You called him?” Harrison asked Eleanor.
“No,” she said.
Daniel did.
Grant stepped into the study and saw the auction documents.
He nodded once. “So it finally broke open.”
Sloan’s jaw tightened. “You should leave.”
Grant almost smiled. “You first.”
Harrison moved between them. “Start talking.”
Grant leaned against the bookshelf.
“Six weeks ago Sloan contacted me. Said she’d found proof Dad had kept a private ledger. She told me it would clear my name.”
Eleanor looked at him. “What ledger?”
“The one I accused him of hiding.”
“You came into this house because Sloan promised you evidence?” Harrison asked.
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t call me?”
“You hadn’t taken my call in four years.”
That landed harder than any insult.
Grant continued. “Sloan let me into the study. We searched the desk. She found a key taped beneath the bottom drawer.”
Eleanor’s eyes shifted toward the desk.
“What key?”
Grant reached into his pocket.
A small brass key lay in his palm.
Sloan stepped forward. “You told me you lost that.”
“No. I told you I didn’t know what it opened.”
Daniel took the key and studied the stamped number.
“B-214.”
Harrison frowned. “Storage?”
Grant nodded. “Private vault box. Caldwell & Mercer Bank.”
Eleanor stared at the name.
Mercer.
Sloan’s maiden name.
Sloan saw her notice.
“That bank existed before I married Harrison.”
“Your father sits on its board,” Daniel said.
Sloan turned to Harrison. “This is becoming ridiculous.”
But Harrison was looking at Grant.
“What did Dad put in that box?”
Grant’s face changed.
“I don’t know.”
“Then why did Sloan want the key?”
May you like
Grant looked directly at her.
“Because she already knew.”
