Chapter 14 - The Cash Room
There was no official room at Atelier Cole called the cash room.
Thomas knew exactly what Grant meant.
In the basement beneath the original flagship salon sat an old alteration vault built when designers still shipped beaded gowns with paper certificates and cash deposits. The company stopped using it years ago.
At least, that was what Edward believed.
Police searched it that night.
Behind boxes of archived fabric samples, they found a second steel door.
Thomas provided the code.
Inside were shelves of envelopes.
Thousands of dollars in cash.
Client names.
Unofficial fitting fees.
Photocopies of passports and driver’s licenses.
Sophia’s stomach tightened.
“Why identity documents?”
Ortiz pulled on gloves. “Could be leverage. Could be account verification. We don’t guess.”
A second shelf held jewelry, watches, and several designer handbags still carrying client initials.
Maya had mentioned a coat-check attendant accused of stealing a bracelet.
Sophia suddenly understood.
“What if Monica wasn’t accusing employees randomly?”
Edward looked at her.
“What if she was creating explanations for things that were already missing?”
Ortiz nodded slowly.
They found the bracelet in a velvet pouch marked LILY - HOLD.
The nineteen-year-old coat-check attendant had nearly lost her job over it.
Sophia felt rage move through her like heat.
Then an officer called from the back of the room.
A fireproof case sat beneath the lowest shelf.
Inside were old contracts dating back more than a decade.
At the bottom lay a sealed envelope with Eleanor Reed’s handwriting.
SOPHIA - ONLY IF THEY LIE TO YOU.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Her mother stood beside Edward, Martin Shaw, and a much younger Grant Ellis.
On the back, Eleanor had written a date and one sentence:
The night Grant admitted he knew where the missing gowns were going.
May you like
Sophia turned the photograph over again.
The date was two weeks before her mother supposedly decided to drop the investigation.
