Chapter 7 - Marcus Opens His Father’s Safe
Evelyn Hart was not at the party.
That should have relieved Clara.
Instead, it frightened her.
Evelyn had called that afternoon to say a migraine kept her home.
She had sent Clara a text before the party began.
Be careful tonight. Families get strange when money is involved.
At the time, Clara had laughed.
Now the message felt like a warning from someone who knew more than she should.
Detective Ruiz tried calling Evelyn.
No answer.
Marcus stood in the nursery doorway, staring at his father’s initials in the ledger.
“E.H. could mean someone else.”
Julian looked at him. “It could.”
Clara appreciated that neither man tried to protect her from the obvious.
Evelyn had been Amelia’s college roommate.
She had organized Clara’s thirteenth birthday after Amelia died, helped choose her prom dress, and sat in the front row at Clara’s wedding beside Daniel.
If Evelyn was involved, the betrayal was not recent.
It had raised her.
Marcus suddenly crossed the nursery.
“My father had a safe.”
Clara looked up.
“In this room?”
“No. In his old office downtown.”
The Sterling headquarters was twenty minutes away.
Police initially refused to let them leave, but Ruiz changed her mind after Marcus explained that Richard’s office had been sealed as a private memorial suite since his death.
“If evidence is there, nobody touches anything without me present,” she said.
By 2:17 a.m., Clara, Marcus, Julian, Maya, and Ruiz were standing on the forty-third floor of Sterling Plaza.
Richard Sterling’s office looked preserved in amber.
Dark wood.
Leather chairs.
A framed photograph of Marcus at sixteen holding a fishing rod beside his father.
Marcus paused at the picture.
“My mother hated that trip.”
“Why?” Clara asked.
“She said Dad disappeared for three days without telling her.”
Julian opened the ledger.
“Do you remember where you went?”
“Lake George.”
Marcus stared at the photo again.
“No. Wait.”
He took the frame off the wall.
Written on the back in Richard’s handwriting were four numbers.
7-14-31-9.
Marcus exhaled.
“That wasn’t the date.”
Ruiz watched him.
“Combination?”
Marcus moved to a bookshelf and pulled out a false panel Clara had never noticed.
Behind it was a black floor safe.
The numbers opened it.
Inside were financial records, two passports, and a small digital voice recorder from the early 2000s.
Maya put on gloves before touching anything.
Ruiz photographed the contents.
Marcus looked at the passports.
One belonged to Richard.
The other belonged to Victoria.
Both had entry stamps from the Cayman Islands on the same dates Northbridge made its largest transfers.
Marcus sat down heavily.
“My mother told me Dad handled everything.”
Maya’s voice was gentle. “Maybe that’s what he wanted you to believe.”
Ruiz powered on the recorder.
One file remained.
Richard’s voice filled the office.
“March 6. Amelia believes Daniel is preparing to shift ownership before Clara’s trust activates. I agree. Victoria says Daniel has reassured her the paper trail can be corrected, but she is frightened.”
A pause.
Then Richard continued.
“Evelyn has agreed to hold copies of the transaction records if Amelia and I cannot.”
Clara’s eyes lifted.
Evelyn had been trusted by Amelia and Richard.
Not Daniel.
Julian frowned.
“So E.H. wasn’t the person Daniel trusted.”
Clara read Richard’s handwritten note again.
There is one person Daniel trusts more than Victoria. Initials: E.H.
“Maybe we misunderstood it,” she said.
Marcus looked at her.
“What if Dad wasn’t identifying an accomplice?”
Clara’s pulse quickened.
“What if he was identifying the person Daniel trusted to keep quiet?”
Ruiz’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her face changed immediately.
“Where?”
She listened for ten seconds, then looked at Clara.
“Officers found Evelyn Hart’s car.”
Clara stood.
“Is she okay?”
Ruiz hesitated.
“The car is abandoned near the Hudson service road.”
“And Evelyn?”
“She’s missing.”
Marcus cursed under his breath.
May you like
Then Ruiz added the part that made Clara’s skin go cold.
“There’s blood on the driver’s seat.”
