Chapter 3 - THE KEY
The key hit the table with a tiny metallic click.
Suddenly the room was hers again.
Evelyn folded her arms. "Found it in Rebecca's purse."
"You searched my purse?" I asked.
"After five hundred dollars disappeared, yes."
Daniel picked up the key. "Becca, what is this?"
"A setup."
His eyes flicked away.
Walter took the key and walked toward his study.
We followed.
Inside, the room smelled of leather and cedar. He opened the bottom drawer of his desk.
Empty.
"My trust folder," he said. "It's gone."
Evelyn whispered, "Oh my God."
Her performance was almost beautiful.
Walter looked at me. "Did you come in here?"
"No."
"Can anyone prove that?"
Before I could answer, a small voice came from the hall.
"I can."
Daniel's seventeen-year-old cousin, Maya, stood there holding a tablet to her chest.
"I was working on my photography project yesterday," she said. "I set up a time-lapse camera in the hallway because the light changes through the windows."
Evelyn stared at her.
Maya swallowed. "It recorded the study door."
"Show us," Walter said.
We gathered around the tablet.
The footage sped through hours of empty hallway.
Then, at 3:14 p.m., Evelyn appeared.
She looked both directions, opened Walter's study with a key, and stepped inside.
At 3:22, she came out carrying a blue folder.
Daniel whispered, "Mom..."
Evelyn did not deny it.
She simply turned toward Maya.
"You had no right to record me."
"Neither did you," I said, "have the right to frame me."
Walter reached for his phone.
"I'm calling my attorney."
Evelyn's eyes sharpened.
"Call him," she said. "You might want to ask him where the trust folder is now."
Walter froze.
"What does that mean?"
May you like
Evelyn looked directly at me.
"It means Victor isn't the only man Rebecca should be worried about."
