Chapter 3 - Eleanor Planned The Birthday Trap
Eleanor admitted the party was partly a test.
For six months, small withdrawals had appeared in her trust.
Nothing dramatic.
Ten thousand here.
Twenty thousand there.
Amounts designed to look like household expenses.
Eleanor’s accountant blamed clerical errors.
She did not believe him.
Richard’s old letter warned that if irregular withdrawals ever resumed,
the person responsible would probably search his archive for the
original trust documents.
So Eleanor gave Claire the missing key.
Claire was supposed to enter the archive during the party while everyone
was outside.
Margaret stared.
“Why Claire?”
“Because whoever is watching me already watches Ethan and you.”
Claire was an outsider to the Whitmore financial structure.
Or so Eleanor believed.
Ethan asked why Claire destroyed the cake.
Claire looked ashamed.
“That wasn’t part of the plan.”
She admitted she had been furious with Eleanor.
Minutes earlier, Eleanor told her she could not marry Ethan until the
investigation ended.
Claire felt judged.
She shoved the cake in anger.
Margaret’s retaliation with the handbag was equally impulsive.
Eleanor looked at both women.
“You two destroyed ten thousand dollars and my birthday cake because
neither of you could control yourselves for thirty seconds.”
No one had a defense.
Then Ethan asked whether Claire found the letter.
“No.”
“What did you find?”
Claire hesitated.
“A camera.”
Inside Richard’s archive, someone had installed a hidden camera aimed at
the document safe.
It had been transmitting wirelessly.
Claire removed its memory card.
That was the second object in her handbag.
The fire had damaged the purse.
The card remained intact.
Security technicians recovered its footage.
The most recent recording showed someone entering the archive two nights
earlier.
Margaret leaned toward the screen.
The person was wearing a hood.
But when they reached for the safe, a distinctive gold ring flashed
under the infrared light.
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Ethan knew that ring.
It belonged to his uncle Robert.
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