Chapter 12 - The Box Under the Stairs
Hannah kept Nora's box beneath the stairs, behind holiday decorations. It contained photographs, a flash drive, a copy of the trust, and a handwritten list of repairs the cottage needed. There was also an envelope addressed to me.
Nora had written: You always try to keep everybody happy. Sometimes that means the person who needs you most has to wait. Please don't make Wren wait.
I sat on the bottom step with the letter across my knees.
"She didn't know about Celia," Hannah said gently. "She knew your mother."
The flash drive held scanned correspondence with the trust attorney. Becca and I were the co-trustees. A sale would require valid approval, proper accounting, and a decision made for Wren's benefit. It could never lawfully put the proceeds into Elaine's personal account.
Priya reviewed the records and found something else: an unsigned contract promised West's company a large advisory fee, while a separate draft proposed paying Elaine for "historical family services" from the proceeds.
"Those payments would have been challenged," Priya said. "But if nobody had checked the paperwork, they might have gotten pretty far before anyone noticed."
"So hurting my daughter was about money."
"Money may be part of it. Don't assume it explains every choice they made."
That night I had to tell Wren that we wouldn't go home yet. She sat with a stuffed fox in her lap.
"Is Grandma mad?" she asked.
"Grandma made choices that weren't okay. You don't have to fix them."
"But she said if I told you about the blue papers, she'd make Rose go away."
I swallowed. "Rose isn't going away because you told the truth."
Wren touched the fox's torn ear. "There was another paper. I hid it so they couldn't take it."
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"Where?"
"Inside Mommy's old music box. In the room they locked."
