Chapter 7 - Why Yesterday
Arthur replayed the staircase scene in his mind.
Victoria at the top.
Lily wanting her father.
Victoria saying:
“Your father isn’t here.”
Then the front door opening.
It had looked impulsive.
Now Arthur wondered what happened before it.
Reed pulled the hallway footage.
Ten minutes before Arthur came home, Victoria knelt beside Lily.
“Where is Mommy’s key?”
Lily shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
“No.”
“Your father needs it.”
“No. Mommy said Daddy.”
Victoria’s expression changed.
Then Lily ran toward the stairs.
“I’m telling Daddy.”
Victoria grabbed her wrist.
“Your father isn’t here.”
Then the door began opening.
Arthur arrived early.
Not a planned murder.
A desperate attempt to stop a child from reaching her father.
Arthur watched once.
Then asked Reed to stop.
“I’ve seen enough.”
Reed said:
“There’s more.”
Camera three captured Victoria calling Charles immediately after police arrived.
Her whisper:
“He came home early.”
Charles:
“Did she tell him?”
Victoria:
“I don’t know.”
Charles:
“Get the key.”
Victoria:
“I can’t.”
Charles:
“Then get the box before he does.”
Arthur already had it.
Reed secured the contents.
Charles was brought in for questioning.
He denied stealing from the trust.
Then investigators showed him the payment records.
He changed his story.
The payments were “authorized family support.”
He could not answer.
Then Rachel found forged approval emails supposedly sent by Arthur.
They came from an account that looked almost identical to his.
One letter different.
Arthur had never noticed.
Neither had the bank.
Then Reed received an alert.
Someone tried to access the old probate portal.
User:
CHARLES MERCER.
Location:
“Charles is at the station.”
“So someone else is using his credentials.”
They pulled up the login IP.
May you like
The device belonged to Victoria.
And she was trying to delete Lily’s trust records in real time.
