Chapter 11 - The Dollhouse
The shelf where it had sat for three years was empty.
Rosa stood beside Ethan under the attic light.
"Mrs. Mercer told me to donate it," she said. "I couldn't. Claire built that thing by hand. I moved it to the old garden shed."
Ethan hugged her before he could stop himself.
Maya arrived carrying gloves.
"Lily said castle. Where would a three-year-old hide treasure?"
They searched the tiny rooms.
Nothing.
Then Ethan remembered Claire laughing because Lily used to call the dollhouse attic "the secret sky room."
He lifted the miniature roof.
A false panel slid loose.
Inside was a flash drive wrapped in wax paper.
Maya plugged it into an offline laptop.
The first folder contained company ledgers.
Millions of dollars had been moved through vendors Ethan did not recognize.
The second contained emails between Grant and Nora Soren, three years before Nora became Nora Mercer.
At the time, Nora had been a compliance consultant.
One email from Claire to Nora read:
I KNOW GRANT IS USING YOUR VENDOR ACCOUNTS. IF YOU DON'T COME CLEAN, I WILL.
Nora replied:
PLEASE GIVE ME FORTY-EIGHT HOURS. I CAN FIX THIS.
Claire's final unsent draft was addressed to Ethan.
Grant is stealing from the company. Nora helped build the shell network. I think they know I found it. If anything happens to me, do not let them call it an accident.
Ethan's vision blurred.
Maya put a hand on his shoulder.
There was one final file.
An audio recording.
Claire's voice.
"Ethan, if you're hearing this, I ran out of time. Grant has been moving money for years. Nora helped him hide it. But there's something else. Travis Keene serviced my car yesterday, and I never asked him to."
A sound interrupted the recording.
Claire whispered, "Someone's in the house."
The file ended.
May you like
Ethan stared at the screen.
Then every light in the garden shed went out.
