Chapter 4 - The Empty Safe
By the time I reached the estate with two off-duty police officers, my office safe was open.
The board packet was gone.
So was a red leather notebook that belonged to my late father.
Nothing else had been touched.
Whoever entered knew exactly what they wanted.
Owen met me in the hall.
“I locked down the property.”
“You locked it down after someone opened my safe.”
His face tightened.
“I understand how that sounds.”
“Do you?”
I held out my hand.
“Your badge.”
His eyes hardened.
“Michael.”
“Badge.”
He gave it to me.
Lena arrived with a forensic technician.
We checked the office access log.
My code had opened the door at 9:47.
Again.
My credential.
The technician inspected the keypad.
“No forced entry.”
“What about the safe?”
“Correct code.”
I stared at the empty shelf.
My father had used it during the company’s first financing round.
Years later, he wrote personal notes in the margins whenever he thought someone on the board was lying.
Before he died, he told me one thing.
“If anyone ever tries to take Sterling from you, read the last ten pages.”
Lena searched the desk.
“Michael.”
She pulled open the bottom drawer.
A single sheet of paper lay inside.
Not mine.
Typed.
YOU SHOULD HAVE SIGNED THE SALE.
Below it was a photograph.
Emma asleep in her bedroom.
Taken from inside the room.
My stomach dropped.
“How old is this?”
Lena flipped it over.
A date was handwritten on the back.
Two weeks earlier.
I called Rachel.
“Put Emma on speaker.”
“She’s sleeping.”
“Wake her.”
“Michael—”
“Please.”
Seconds later, Emma’s tired voice came through.
“Dad?”
“Sweetheart, has anyone been in your room at night?”
Silence.
Then a whisper.
“Claire.”
My hand went cold.
“What did she do?”
“She was looking for Grandma’s key.”
“What key?”
Emma started crying.
“The red one.”
I turned toward the empty safe.
My father’s notebook had a tiny brass lock.
May you like
The key was missing.
And apparently, my seven-year-old daughter knew where it was.
