Chapter 15 - What Evelyn Hid
We returned to Mercer House with Detective Brooks and a trauma specialist.
No family.
No press.
The bridal suite looked smaller than I remembered.
The floor panel remained open behind police tape.
Evelyn stood in the doorway for almost a minute.
“You okay?” I asked.
“No.”
“Want to leave?”
“No.”
She crossed to the dressing table.
Opened the lowest drawer.
Then she pressed a carved wooden rose at the back.
A false panel released.
Inside was a narrow cloth pouch.
Detective Brooks stared.
“You put that there?”
“The morning of the wedding.”
Before everything went wrong, Evelyn had found her mother’s trust documents.
She sensed something was wrong.
So she removed one page and hid it before confronting Claire.
The page was not financial.
From my mother to Evelyn’s mother.
Victor thinks Daniel is weak because he wants peace. I think he is dangerous to Victor for exactly that reason. If Daniel sees the truth clearly, he will not choose the company over Evelyn.
My mother had believed in me more than I believed in myself.
That page was why Victor became so desperate to find the original papers.
It proved my mother knew about the scheme.
It also contained a handwritten note beneath the signature:
Copy sent to Rebecca Sloan.
I looked at Detective Brooks.
Rebecca had told us she knew nothing until after Evelyn was found.
We called her immediately.
She arrived pale and furious.
“I never received this.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“My predecessor handled my mail then.”
Retired family counsel.
Victor’s closest legal adviser.
Police searched Price’s archived office storage.
They found a sealed envelope addressed to Rebecca.
And beside it, billing records showing Gordon Price had been paid by Victor personally for “document containment.”
Graham Pike was not the only professional who helped.
Then Brooks found a second envelope.
Addressed to me.
May you like
Postmarked the day after our wedding.
From Evelyn.
