Chapter 4: The Missing Key
“The second key is missing.””
Vanessa's words hung in the ballroom long after she had spoken them.
Maya stared at her stepmother, trying to understand why a missing key could make a grown woman look terrified.
“Missing from where?”” Maya asked.
Vanessa straightened her gown and glanced at the guests who were still watching.
“I don't know what your father told you, but there were several keys to that property. One for the house, one for the boathouse, and others for storage.””
“Dad said there were two.””
“Your father was on medication.””
“Stop saying that!””
Maya's voice cracked across the room.
She clutched the letter against her chest, feeling its folded edges press into her skin.
“Every time I ask you something, you say Dad was confused. He remembered my birthday. He remembered how I liked my pancakes.
He remembered the name of every fish we caught at the lake. Why would he suddenly forget something important?””
Vanessa's mouth tightened.
“Because illness changes people, Maya.””
Thomas Reed closed his briefcase.
“Mrs. Carter, I suggest you answer the question she actually asked.””
Vanessa turned on him.
“You have no authority to interrogate me at a charity event.””
“No,” Thomas replied.
“But I have authority to preserve evidence relating to my client's estate, and I have a responsibility to his daughter.””
He removed a small notebook from his inside pocket.
“Daniel gave Maya one brass key. He mentioned a second key in his letter. You just confirmed that the second key is missing. I would like to know when you last saw it.””
Vanessa folded her arms.
“I don't remember.””
“Was it in your possession?””
“No.””
“Was it in Daniel's possession?””
“I said I don't remember.””
Thomas wrote something down.
Vanessa watched his pen move.
“You're twisting my words.””
“I'm recording them.””
She reached across the table and slapped the notebook out of his hand.
It struck the marble floor and slid beneath a chair.
Several guests gasped.
Thomas didn't bend to retrieve it immediately. Instead, he looked at Vanessa with a calmness that somehow made her outburst look even worse.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?””
“For demonstrating why I was instructed to document this conversation.””
Vanessa's cheeks burned.
“You smug little—”
“Mrs. Carter,” Patricia Wells interrupted, stepping between them.
“I think you should leave the room until you've calmed down.””
“This is my husband's foundation!””
“Your husband's foundation has a board of directors. And right now, several members of that board are asking me why you've attempted to seize a child's property and destroy an attorney's notes.””
Vanessa looked around.
Three foundation trustees had gathered near the head table. One, a gray-haired man named Robert Ellis, was speaking quietly into his phone. Another had moved closer to Maya and Evelyn.
For the first time that evening, Vanessa appeared to realize that the people she had expected to intimidate were no longer afraid of her.
She turned back to Maya.
“Give me the key.””
Maya stepped behind her grandmother.
“No.””
“You don't know what you're carrying.””
“Then tell me.””
Vanessa's eyes flicked toward the brass key.
For a moment, Maya thought she might actually answer.
Instead, Vanessa leaned close and whispered, “Your father made a mistake when he trusted you with it.””
Evelyn stepped forward.
“Say another word like that to her, and I will make sure every person in this room remembers it.””
Vanessa pulled away.
“You've always hated me.””
“No,” Evelyn replied.
“I gave you every opportunity to become part of this family. You mistook my patience for weakness.””
Thomas retrieved his notebook and brushed off the cover.
“Maya, may I see the key?””
Maya hesitated.
“Will you give it back?””
“Immediately.””
She unclasped the chain and placed the key in his palm.
He examined the brass teeth, then turned it over.
A tiny number had been engraved near the bow.
*17.*
Thomas's face changed.
He reached into his briefcase and removed a photocopy of a floor plan. It showed the lake house, the detached boathouse, and a smaller structure near the shoreline.
He placed the key beside the drawing.
“This isn't an ordinary house key,” he said.
“What is it?”” Maya asked.
“It appears to match the key described in the inventory of a locked cabinet your father kept at the lake house.””
Evelyn leaned over the paper.
“What was in the cabinet?””
Thomas tapped the drawing.
“Daniel never gave me a complete list. He told me the cabinet contained records that were too important to leave in the main house.””
Vanessa made a strangled sound.
“That cabinet was empty.””
Everyone turned toward her.
Thomas slowly lifted his head.
“How would you know that?””
Vanessa seemed to realize her mistake immediately.
“I inspected the property before the sale.””
“You said the house was sold because it needed repairs,” Maya said.
“Why were you inspecting cabinets?””
“I was responsible for the estate.””
“You told me the road was closed.””
Vanessa's eyes flashed.
“Because I didn't want you wandering around a dangerous property!””
“Was the cabinet empty when you sold the house?””
“I don't know.””
“You just said it was empty.””
Vanessa looked toward the ballroom doors.
Thomas placed the key back in Maya's hand.
“I think we've reached the point where this conversation should continue somewhere more appropriate.””
“Where?”” Maya asked.
“At the lake house.””
Vanessa's head snapped around.
“No.””
The answer came too quickly.
Thomas raised an eyebrow.
“Why not?””
“The property has a new owner. You can't simply show up and demand access.””
“That's true,” Thomas said.
“Which is why I'll contact the current owner and request permission.””
Vanessa swallowed.
“You don't know who owns it.””
“Neither do you, apparently.””
“I know perfectly well who owns it!””
The room fell silent again.
Thomas waited.
Vanessa pressed her lips together.
Maya felt her heart pounding.
“Who bought our house?””
Vanessa looked at the girl.
Then she looked at the key.
Then, as though she had exhausted every other option, she turned toward the ballroom entrance and walked away.
She didn't say goodbye.
She didn't apologize.
She simply disappeared through the double doors, leaving the guests to whisper behind her.
Maya stood very still.
She had imagined confronting Vanessa a hundred times. In those imagined conversations, she always said something clever enough to make Vanessa admit the truth.
Now that the confrontation had happened, Maya felt strangely hollow.
Her father was gone.
His house was gone.
And there was something inside a locked cabinet that might explain why he had been so afraid.
Evelyn knelt in front of her.
“Sweetheart, we can go home.””
Maya shook her head.
“I don't want to go home.””
Her grandmother looked at her carefully.
“What do you want to do?””
Maya held up the key.
“I want to know what Dad was protecting.””
Thomas closed his briefcase.
“Then we'll start with the records.””
He took out his phone and stepped away to make a call.
Maya watched him cross the room, then turned toward Evelyn.
“Grandma, did you know about the trust?””
Evelyn hesitated.
“I knew your father had made arrangements to protect the lake house. He told me he wanted it to remain yours when you became an adult.””
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because I thought the arrangements were secure. I didn't know Vanessa had sold the property until I received the transfer record.””
“Did Dad tell you about the second key?””
Evelyn's eyes lowered.
“No.””
Maya searched her face.
“Grandma?””
Evelyn took both of Maya's hands.
“There is something your father told me the night before he went into the hospital. I have tried not to think about it because I didn't know what he meant.””
“What did he say?””
“He called me very late. He was frightened, Maya. Not confused.
Not disoriented. Frightened.””
Maya's throat tightened.
“What was he afraid of?””
Evelyn glanced toward the doorway Vanessa had disappeared through.
“He said someone had been inside the lake house.””
Maya felt the ballroom tilt around her.
“Who?””
“I don't know. He said he'd found something missing, and that if anything happened to him, I should make sure you kept the key.””
“Why didn't you tell the police?””
“I asked him whether he wanted me to. He told me to wait until I understood what had happened.””
Evelyn's voice broke.
“I thought he was frightened because he was dying. I thought the medication was making him imagine things. I should have listened more carefully.””
Maya squeezed her grandmother's hands.
“You didn't know.””
“No,” Evelyn whispered.
“But I know now that he was trying to tell us something.””
Thomas returned, his expression serious.
“The current owner has agreed to meet us tomorrow morning.””
Maya's heart leaped.
“He has?””
“Yes. I explained that we're trying to retrieve personal documents that may have been left behind. He says there's something he wants us to see.””
“What?””
Thomas glanced at the brass key.
“He wouldn't say over the phone.””
Evelyn rose slowly.
“When are we leaving?””
“Seven o'clock,” Thomas replied.
“And I strongly advise that neither of you contact Vanessa beforehand.””
Maya slipped the key back beneath her dress.
As they made their way toward the exit, her phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
*Stop looking for the second key. Your father died because he wouldn't let this go.*
Maya's fingers went numb.
She showed the screen to Thomas.
He read it once.
Then again.
“Don't respond,” he said.
“Who sent it?””
“I don't know yet.””
He photographed the message and asked Maya to preserve the original.
Evelyn wrapped an arm around her granddaughter as they stepped into the cold night air.
Across the street, beneath the glow of a streetlamp, a black SUV sat with its headlights off.
Maya glanced toward it.
The engine started.
The vehicle pulled away before Thomas could read the license plate.
But Maya had seen the driver.
And she knew exactly who it was.
Vanessa Carter had not gone home.
May you like
She had been waiting outside.
And whatever her husband had hidden at the lake house, she was desperate to reach it first.
