Chapter 10 - THE BOX BENEATH THE FLOOR
Daniel ducked.
The poker struck the doorframe.
He grabbed Patricia’s wrist while Michael attacked from behind.
All three crashed into the hallway table.
Daniel’s injured shoulder exploded with pain.
Patricia raised the poker again.
Before she could swing, the front doors burst open.
Bennett entered with police officers.
Michael ran toward the rear staircase.
Emily was waiting at the bottom.
He stopped inches from her.
“You,” he said.
“Yes. Me.”
Michael turned, but officers surrounded him.
Patricia began screaming that Emily had invaded her home.
Bennett calmly showed her the warrant.
Police searched the mansion for the missing ledger pages.
They found the gray maintenance uniform and Patricia’s silver bracelet inside a locked closet.
Patricia claimed Michael had planted them.
Michael claimed Patricia planned everything.
Their loyalty to each other lasted less than three minutes.
The brass key opened a safe-deposit box registered under Thomas Carter’s name.
Inside were original bank records, an audio recorder, and a handwritten letter addressed to Daniel.
Daniel played the recording in Bennett’s office.
Thomas’s tired voice filled the room.
“If you’re hearing this, I was unable to stop Michael myself.”
Daniel gripped the edge of the table.
Thomas explained that Michael had stolen nearly $300,000 from company accounts.
When confronted, Michael begged for another chance.
Patricia pressured Thomas to keep the matter inside the family.
Thomas refused.
He planned to report Michael the following morning.
The recording ended there.
The bank records proved motive, but not murder.
Then Daniel opened the letter.
Son,
Your mother will tell you that protecting family matters more than telling the truth.
She is wrong.
A family protected by lies eventually becomes a prison.
If something happens to me, look beneath the floor in the first office we built.
Daniel looked at Emily.
“The old office is scheduled for demolition tomorrow.”
They drove there immediately.
The building stood abandoned behind fencing.
Inside, dust covered the floor and broken desks.
Daniel found the room where his father had collapsed.
One floorboard sounded hollow.
Beneath it was a sealed metal box.
Inside were photographs of Michael meeting a man outside a pharmacy.
There was also a receipt for a medication capable of triggering cardiac arrest in someone with Thomas’s condition.
The receipt was dated two days before Thomas died.
Michael’s name appeared at the bottom.
Daniel’s knees nearly gave out.
Emily steadied him.
Bennett found one more item in the box.
A handwritten statement from Thomas.
Michael threatened to put the medication in my coffee if I report him. Patricia heard him. She told me he was only angry, but I no longer feel safe.
Police arrested Michael on suspicion of murder.
Patricia was charged with evidence tampering, fraud, and conspiracy.
As officers placed her in the patrol car, she stared at Emily.
“You destroyed my family.”
Emily stepped closer.
“No, Patricia. I stopped you from destroying anyone else.”
Patricia smiled through the window.
“You think you’ve won?”
May you like
Then she mouthed three words.
Ask Daniel about Claire.
