Chapter 7 – A Dead Woman's Final Clue
Near midnight, most of the guests had left.
Grace entered the old staff laundry room.
She locked the door.
Then opened Emma's journal again.
Several pages had been glued together.
She carefully separated them.
A folded blueprint slipped onto the floor.
It showed the original foundation of the mansion.
One room had been added years later.
It wasn't labeled.
Only marked with one handwritten sentence.
"Emergency exit."
Grace studied the drawing.
The hidden room beneath the mansion had a second entrance.
Not through the bookshelf.
Through an abandoned wine cellar.
Emma had circled it in red ink.
Another folded note dropped from the journal.
"If you are reading this..."
"...I may already be dead."
"Oliver knows something."
"Someone is trying to erase my family."
"I don't know how much time I have."
"If Nathan never sees this..."
"Find Detective Daniel Brooks."
"He knows why I was afraid."
Grace folded the note carefully.
Someone knocked on the laundry room door.
Three slow knocks.
"Grace?"
It was Nathan.
She quickly hid everything.
"Come in."
Nathan stepped inside.
His shoulders looked heavier than ever.
"I wanted to thank you."
"You've stayed with this family longer than anyone."
Grace forced a smile.
"Of course."
Nathan hesitated.
"Can I ask you something?"
She nodded.
"Do you honestly believe Oliver ran away?"
Grace looked directly into his eyes.
"No."
May you like
Nathan lowered his head.
"I don't either."
