Chapter 9 - THE SAFE WAS NOT EMPTY
Lauren left.
Not permanently.
She went to a hotel with Eli.
That afternoon, she called Sarah.
She wanted her own attorney.
Good.
People tell the truth more reliably when someone explains what lying can cost them.
Diane arrived furious.
“What did you say to her?”
I held my mother’s bracelet.
She saw it.
Stopped.
Then recovered.
“You stole that from Lauren.”
I laughed.
“This was mine before you knew Lauren existed.”
Diane’s eyes moved toward Nathan.
He looked exhausted.
I asked.
“Who emptied my safe?”
Diane answered.
“Nathan did.”
He turned.
“Mom.”
Too late.
“What else?”
I asked.
“Rachel.”
Nathan stepped forward.
I ignored him.
“Diane.”
She folded her arms.
“Financial documents.”
“Jewelry.”
“Your mother’s old papers.”
My stomach tightened.
“What papers?”
Nathan said.
“Nothing important.”
That meant very important.
My mother, Catherine Brooks, had left me more than jewelry.
Before her death, she placed several investments into a trust.
Nathan always complained that the trustee treated him like a stranger.
Because legally, he was.
“What did you take?”
I asked.
Diane smiled faintly.
“You’re acting like a child.”
I walked upstairs.
Nathan followed.
“Rachel.”
I entered the bedroom.
Opened the safe.
Empty.
Completely.
Not only the bracelet.
My mother’s will copy.
Trust documents.
A sealed letter.
Even my passport.
Everything gone.
I turned.
“Where?”
Nathan shrugged.
“Secure storage.”
“Where?”
“You’re in no condition to manage this.”
There it was again.
I pulled out my phone.
“Then explain it to my attorney.”
His face tightened.
I dialed Sarah.
He left before she answered.
The next morning, Sarah obtained an emergency order preventing disposal of disputed property.
Nathan surrendered a box through counsel.
Most items returned.
One thing did not.
My mother’s sealed letter.
I had never opened it.
She gave it to me before she died and said.
“Read this only if you ever feel trapped by someone who benefits from your confusion.”
For six years, I never believed that sentence applied to me.
Now the envelope was missing.
Sarah asked Nathan’s attorney.
He denied knowing it existed.
Diane denied taking it.
Lauren denied seeing it.
Then Caleb told me something.
“Grandma burned Mommy’s paper.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“At Daddy’s office.”
“When?”
“Before you went to hospital.”
My heart pounded.
“What did it look like?”
“White.”
“Mommy’s name.”
“Green writing.”
My mother always used green fountain ink.
“Did you see what it said?”
Caleb shook his head.
“Grandma said dead people shouldn’t control money.”
My blood went cold.
The letter had been about my trust.
Not memories.
May you like
Money.
And Diane had destroyed it because it said something they did not want me to know.
