Chapter 2 - The Question Samuel Had to Answer
I hid the music box beneath Grandmother’s bed seconds before my father entered the house.
Thomas called from downstairs.
“Vanessa?”
She stepped into the hallway.
“I’m here.”
“Did you find it?”
I watched my sister’s face.
She lied without hesitation.
“No.”
Dad climbed the stairs.
He saw me.
His expression hardened.
“What are you doing here?”
“I still have belongings inside.”
“I told you to clear them tonight.”
“It’s still Grandmother’s property until probate transfer.”
He laughed.
“Samuel read the will.”
“You heard him.”
“The house is mine.”
“Probate doesn’t work instantly.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You sound like you’re working.”
“I’m always an accountant, Dad.”
“Not tonight.”
He entered Grandmother’s bedroom.
Opened drawers.
Checked the closet.
Then looked beneath the bed.
Empty.
Vanessa had quietly moved the music box while Dad and I spoke.
I had no idea where.
Dad turned.
“Where is it?”
“What?”
“The cedar box.”
“My inheritance?”
He stared at me.
“Your grandmother kept documents inside.”
“Then maybe she shouldn’t have left it to the daughter you think is incapable of managing assets.”
His jaw tightened.
“Do not start.”
He walked out.
Vanessa waited until his car disappeared.
Then retrieved the music box from inside Grandmother’s linen hamper.
She handed it to me.
“I want to know what’s happening.”
“I don’t know yet.”
“That’s a lie.”
“No.”
“It’s incomplete.”
She crossed her arms.
“Why did Grandma leave you that box?”
“Maybe she liked music.”
“Evelyn.”
I looked at her.
“Why did Dad send you back for it?”
She hesitated.
“He said Grandma sometimes kept old trust papers inside.”
“What trust?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
“Did Mom know?”
“I think so.”
“Vanessa.”
“What?”
“Did you know about the safe behind the portrait?”
Her face went blank.
That was answer enough.
“You knew.”
“I knew there was something behind it.”
“How?”
“I saw Dad checking the wall last year.”
“Did you know what was inside?”
“No.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She looked away.
“Because nobody tells you anything.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“You left.”
The words surprised me.
“I moved forty minutes away.”
“You left the family.”
“No.”
“I built a life.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Same thing to them.”
She grabbed her purse.
“I don’t know what Grandma was doing.”
“But Dad is scared of that box.”
“And Mom knew Caroline’s name was not supposed to be mentioned.”
Then she left.
The next morning, I called Samuel Price.
“I need to ask you something.”
“All right.”
“What did Caroline want for her twenty-sixth birthday?”
Silence.
Not hesitation.
Recognition.
Then Samuel answered.
“A yellow kitchen.”
I closed my eyes.
“Anything else?”
“She wanted your grandmother to stop buying her pearls.”
“Caroline hated pearls.”
“Where are you?”
“At my office.”
“I need you at First Commonwealth Bank in one hour.”
Samuel did not ask why.
“I’ll be there.”
The safe-deposit box required both our signatures.
Grandmother had added Samuel as secondary access fourteen years earlier.
Inside was no cash.
No jewelry.
Only files.
One folder was labeled:
CAROLINE REED MEMORIAL TRUST.
I frowned.
“Reed?”
Samuel removed his glasses.
“That was Caroline’s married name.”
“I thought she never married.”
“That is what Thomas told people.”
My chest tightened.
“What happened to her?”
Samuel looked toward the bank employee.
“Not here.”
Another folder contained property schedules.
The house.
Two rental buildings.
Investment accounts.
A parcel of commercial land.
The same assets Grandmother’s public will had supposedly distributed to Dad, Mom, and Vanessa.
But each schedule showed something impossible.
Grandmother did not own them.
The Caroline Reed Memorial Trust did.
I looked at Samuel.
“Then Grandma couldn’t leave the house to Dad.”
“No.”
“She couldn’t leave the accounts to Mom.”
“No.”
“The jewelry?”
“Purchased with trust funds.”
I stared.
“Then what exactly did they inherit?”
Samuel’s expression became grim.
“Claims.”
“What?”
“Your grandmother gave each of them the exact asset they had spent years pretending belonged to her.”
“Why?”
“So they would accept it publicly.”
A chill moved down my spine.
The will reading had been a trap.
Grandmother knew they would laugh.
Knew they would claim the assets.
Knew they would expose themselves.
I opened the trust beneficiary page.
My heart stopped.
Primary Beneficiary: Evelyn Caroline Reed.
My full name was Evelyn Marie Thomas.
Or so I had believed.
I looked at Samuel.
“Who is Evelyn Caroline Reed?”
He stared at me for several seconds.
May you like
Then answered quietly.
“You.”
