Chapter 2 - The Housekeeper Who Was Sent to Find a Murderer
I spent the next hour alone in my office.
Victor Crane.
For years, I had trusted him.
He had handled contracts.
Tax disputes.
Property deals.
Legal settlements.
He had been at my father's funeral.
He had signed the papers transferring control of the family business to me.
He had even helped me protect my mother from the press after her diagnosis.
The idea that he could have murdered Thomas Reed seemed impossible.
But my mother had never been careless with accusations.
And Clara had spent months inside my house searching for evidence.
That meant there was evidence.
“Show me what you found.”
Clara stood across from my desk.
“What?”
“You came here looking for the truth.”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
She hesitated.
Then reached into the pocket of her uniform.
She pulled out a small brass key.
I stared at it.
“What is that?”
“My father's.”
“Why do you have it?”
“My mother gave it to me before she died.”
“What's it open?”
“I don't know.”
I took it.
The metal was old.
On one side were two engraved letters.
T.R.
“Why didn't you give this to my mother?”
“She already knew about it.”
“Then why keep it?”
“Because she told me to wait until you were ready.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Apparently I'm ready now.”
Clara didn't smile.
“Your mother thinks you are.”
“Do you?”
She looked at me.
“I don't know you well enough.”
That answer was honest.
I respected it.
We left the office together.
The mansion felt different as we walked through it.
Every hallway suddenly seemed to contain a secret.
Every painting looked like a witness.
Every locked door felt deliberate.
“Where do we start?” I asked.
“My father used to work around the library.”
I frowned.
“That's been closed for years.”
“Exactly.”
The library was rarely used.
My father had loved books.
After his death, I stopped entering the room.
Clara unlocked the door.
Dust covered the shelves.
Heavy curtains kept the room dark.
I turned on the lights.
Nothing happened.
“The power?”
“Disabled,” I said.
Clara looked around.
“Why would anyone disable power to a library?”
I walked toward the fireplace.
“My father had a safe here.”
“Where?”
“Behind the third row of books.”
I pulled the books aside.
The wall was empty.
Clara touched the stone.
“There.”
A faint line.
She pressed it.
A panel opened.
Inside was a digital safe.
I looked at her.
“How did you know?”
“My father taught me to look for things that don't belong.”
“You've been searching for this?”
“For months.”
“You could have opened it.”
“I didn't know the code.”
I entered my father's birthday.
Wrong.
His wedding anniversary.
Wrong.
My mother's birthday.
Wrong.
Then Clara whispered:
“Try the date your father died.”
I froze.
The lock clicked.
The safe opened.
Inside were three folders.
One black.
One blue.
One red.
The black folder carried a single word.
REED.
I opened it.
Photographs.
Thomas Reed.
My father.
Victor Crane.
My mother.
A warehouse.
And a photograph of Clara as a child.
I stared.
“Why is she here?”
Clara came closer.
On the back of the photograph was a date.
September 14, 2012.
A year before Thomas died.
And a handwritten sentence.
“She is the leverage.”
Clara went pale.
“What does that mean?”
I turned toward her.
“It means your father knew someone was using you.”
She swallowed.
“What else?”
I opened the second page.
A report.
Thomas had discovered Northstar Holdings.
He had discovered payments to a series of shell companies.
But the money had not been the real problem.
Names had been hidden inside the transactions.
Judges.
Police officials.
Business owners.
And one federal investigator.
All connected to the same network.
Clara stared at the documents.
“My father was trying to expose them.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would your father stop him?”
I looked at her.
“He didn't.”
“What?”
I remembered my mother's words.
Someone else killed Thomas.
I found another document.
A handwritten note from my father.
Victor knows.
If I move first, Thomas dies.
If I do nothing, Thomas dies.
There is no safe choice.
I read the sentence again.
My stomach twisted.
“My father knew.”
Clara whispered:
“He knew Victor was planning to kill my father.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't he stop him?”
“I don't know.”
We turned toward the door.
Footsteps.
Someone was coming.
I shut the safe.
The library door opened.
Victor Crane entered.
He was sixty-two, gray-haired, impeccably dressed, and always carrying a leather folder.
“Bennett.”
His eyes moved to Clara.
Then to the open safe.
For the first time in my life, I saw fear in his face.
“Working late?”
I stepped forward.
“We're investigating old family records.”
“That seems unnecessary.”
“Why?”
“There are things in the past that are best left there.”
I smiled.
“You sound worried.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“I'm concerned that grief is making you suspicious.”
“Grief?”
“Your mother's illness.”
His gaze softened falsely.
“You're under enormous pressure.”
I stepped closer.
“What did you know about Thomas Reed?”
Victor didn't move.
“I knew he was your father's security chief.”
“And?”
“He died in an accident.”
“That's not what my mother says.”
His eyes shifted.
“Your mother is ill.”
I felt anger rise.
“Don't use her illness to explain away what you don't want to answer.”
Victor's face changed.
Only for a second.
Then he smiled.
“I would be careful, Bennett.”
“Why?”
“Because once you start looking into the past, you may discover things about your own family you won't like.”
I held his gaze.
“Maybe that's exactly what I want.”
Victor turned to leave.
At the door, he stopped.
“Mr. Hale.”
I looked at him.
“You should ask yourself why Clara Reed waited twelve years to return.”
Then he walked away.
Clara's face tightened.
“He knows.”
I nodded.
“He knows you are Thomas's daughter.”
“He probably knows more.”
“Then we'll find it first.”
She looked at me.
“Why are you helping me?”
I stared at her.
Because I didn't know the answer.
Maybe because I hated not knowing.
Maybe because my mother had trusted her.
Maybe because every instinct I had told me Victor was hiding something.
Or maybe because for the first time in my life, I wanted someone near me who wasn't afraid of my name.
“I don't know,” I admitted.
Clara smiled faintly.
“At least you're honest.”
That night, I found Mother awake.
“You found the library.”
“Yes.”
“You found the safe.”
“Yes.”
She sighed.
“You're moving too quickly.”
“Who is Victor Crane?”
Her face became pale.
“You're not ready.”
“Then make me ready.”
She looked at me.
“Victor was your father's most trusted adviser.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You don't know what trusted means in our world.”
She looked toward the window.
“Your father believed people were assets.”
“And Victor?”
“Victor believed people were weaknesses.”
My stomach tightened.
“Did he kill Thomas?”
Mother didn't answer.
“Mother.”
She looked at me.
“I didn't see him do it.”
“Then why are you certain?”
“Because Thomas came to me three days before he died.”
“What did he say?”
“He said if anything happened to him, I should protect Clara.”
I looked at the bedroom door.
“And you did?”
“I tried.”
“You hired her.”
“Yes.”
“Why put her in the mansion?”
Mother looked at me.
“Because Victor was looking for her.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
“Thomas left something behind.”
“What?”
“Proof.”
“Where?”
Mother smiled sadly.
“In this house.”
She reached for my hand.
“And Clara was the only person who could safely find it.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because everyone has been watching the Hale family.”
May you like
She squeezed my fingers.
“No one watches the maid.”
