CHAPTER 4: THEY CAME BACK FOR THE KEY
I listened to Jason’s message three times.
Each time, his words sounded worse.
“What did Dad find?” I asked.
Robert sat across from me in the bank’s private viewing room.
“I don’t know everything.”
“You were his attorney.”
“I handled the property transfers and legal records. Your father kept parts of the investigation separate.”
“Why?”
“He was afraid one person with all the information would become a target.”
The word target made my stomach twist.
“My father died of a heart attack.”
Robert didn’t answer.
I leaned forward.
“Didn’t he?”
“The official cause of death was cardiac arrest.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Robert looked down at the metal box.
“Your father had heart disease.”
“But?”
“He believed someone was interfering with his medication.”
The room seemed to shrink around me.
“Who?”
“He never named anyone directly.”
I thought of my mother organizing Dad’s pills every morning.
I thought of Chloe collecting prescriptions for him.
I thought of Jason, who had started visiting my parents without me.
“No.”
Robert’s voice softened.
“Suspicion is not proof.”
“Then why tell me?”
“Because the contents of Storage 18 may contain proof.”
I picked up the black flash drive.
“What’s on this?”
“Your father’s private financial records.”
“And the journal?”
“His observations.”
I placed everything inside my purse.
“We’re going to the storage unit.”
“Not tonight.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because your mother and sister know you left with me. If they’ve been looking for that key, they may follow us.”
“I’m not waiting.”
“Your father waited three years.”
“And now he’s dead.”
Robert flinched.
I immediately regretted saying it.
But I didn’t apologize.
My entire life had split open in less than an hour.
I was allowed to be angry.
Robert drove me to the house.
The guests were gone.
The downstairs lights were still on.
My mother’s car was missing.
So was Chloe’s.
Jason’s remained in the driveway.
I stopped at the gate.
“Why is he still here?”
Robert studied the dark windows.
“Do you want me to come inside?”
“Yes.”
We entered through the front door.
The dining room was empty.
Broken glass still glittered beneath the table.
My mother’s wine had stained the rug.
“Jason?” I called.
No answer.
We moved toward the hallway.
Dad’s study door stood open.
It had been locked when we left.
I pushed it wider.
Every drawer had been pulled out.
Books covered the floor.
The desk had been overturned.
Someone had sliced open the leather chair cushions.
Robert immediately reached for his phone.
“Don’t touch anything.”
A sound came from upstairs.
A floorboard creaked.
I looked at him.
“We’re not alone.”
Robert dialed emergency services.
I backed toward the front door.
Then Jason appeared at the top of the staircase.
His shirt sleeves were rolled up.
His hair was disheveled.
There was dust on his knees.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He slowly came downstairs.
“I was looking for you.”
“In my father’s office?”
“I heard someone inside.”
Robert held up his phone.
“The police are on their way.”
Jason’s expression tightened.
“You called the police?”
“Someone broke into the study.”
“This isn’t a break-in. I have a key.”
I stared at him.
“To my house?”
Jason realized his mistake.
I stepped away.
“How long have you had a key?”
He said nothing.
“Answer me.”
“Your mother gave it to me.”
“Why?”
“So I could check on the property.”
“You mean search it.”
“Hannah, please.”
“Where are Mom and Chloe?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were all here fifteen minutes ago.”
“They left.”
“Together?”
He rubbed his face.
“You need to stop asking questions you aren’t ready to have answered.”
I laughed once.
It came out sharp and empty.
“You dated me for four years, stole from my father and searched his office. I think we’re past protecting my feelings.”
“I didn’t steal from him.”
“Your name is on the transfers.”
“I moved the money.”
“For Chloe?”
His silence answered me.
I felt something inside me break.
Not dramatically.
Not loudly.
Just a quiet final crack.
“You knew.”
“I thought it was family money.”
“You falsified records.”
“Chloe said your father was controlling everything. She said Margaret needed access to her own accounts.”
Margaret.
He called my mother by her first name.
Not Mrs. Brooks.
Not your mother.
Margaret.
“How close are you to my family?”
Jason looked toward Robert.
“This should be private.”
“No. He stays.”
Jason lowered his voice.
“Your sister introduced us.”
“I know.”
His eyes widened.
“Robert told you?”
“I figured it out.”
“It wasn’t supposed to become real.”
“What wasn’t?”
“You and me.”
The sentence struck harder than anything else that night.
I stared at him.
Jason rushed forward.
“But it did become real. I fell in love with you.”
“After you were assigned to me?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“What would you call it?”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Police lights flashed outside.
Jason looked toward the window.
Panic crossed his face.
“Hannah, give me the key.”
My hand moved instinctively toward my purse.
His eyes followed the movement.
That was all the confirmation I needed.
“You knew about the storage unit.”
He stepped closer.
“Your father kept records that could destroy people.”
“Which people?”
“Not just your family.”
“Who else?”
He looked toward the approaching officers.
Then grabbed my shoulders.
Robert moved instantly.
“Take your hands off her.”
Jason ignored him.
“There is a second will.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Your father wrote another will six months before he died.”
Robert’s face hardened.
“I prepared no second will.”
“That’s because he used another attorney.”
The front door opened.
Two officers entered.
Jason released me.
One officer ordered everyone to remain where they were.
As they questioned him, Jason kept looking at my purse.
Not at me.
Not at the police.
At the key.
The officers eventually escorted him outside.
He wasn’t arrested.
Not yet.
There wasn’t enough evidence that he had damaged the study.
After they left, Robert and I inspected the home security system.
The cameras had been disabled.
But Dad had installed a second hidden camera inside the study.
Robert found it behind a bookshelf.
We connected the memory card to my laptop.
The footage showed Chloe entering the room first.
My mother followed.
Jason came last.
They searched for twenty minutes.
Then Chloe stopped beside Dad’s desk.
She looked directly at Jason and said:
“She has the bank box now.”
My mother answered:
“Then we find the storage key before Hannah learns she was never supposed to inherit alone.”
The video ended.
Robert stared at the screen.
“What did she mean by that?”
I thought of the second will.
Then I looked at the wooden tag inside my purse.
May you like
Storage 18.
“We’re opening that unit tomorrow.”
