Chapter 10 - The Office with No Windows.
Victor Shaw's private office occupied the top floor of a narrow downtown building.
By the time police arrived, the receptionist had already gone home despite it being barely noon.
Grant's car sat in the underground garage.
Victor's car was missing.
Officers entered the office with legal authority connected to the developing investigation.
No one was inside.
A printer was still warm.
A coffee cup sat beside an open laptop.
A paper shredder had jammed halfway through a stack of documents.
Detective Ramirez called Daniel from the scene.
"Someone left quickly."
"Grant?"
"Possibly Grant and Shaw."
Daniel looked at Claire sleeping behind the hospital glass.
"What did they leave behind?"
"Enough to make me think the dinner wasn't the beginning of this."
Investigators recovered partial documents from the shredder.
Several contained Sophie's name.
Others referenced voting proxies, trust transfers, and emergency succession procedures.
Daniel did not understand every legal phrase.
He understood the pattern.
Grant and Shaw had been preparing for a future in which Daniel no longer controlled the company.
One document was dated three months before the dinner.
Another was dated the day before.
The newest version included a space for Claire's signature.
Daniel stared at the photograph Ramirez sent him.
"They planned to use her signature after she refused?"
"We're investigating that possibility."
Daniel's voice turned cold.
"Stop saying possibility like this is theoretical."
Ramirez did not take offense.
"I use careful words because careful words survive courtrooms."
Daniel went silent.
She was right.
That did not make waiting easier.
Across town, Sophie was awake long enough to eat half a cup of applesauce.
Daniel sat beside her while she drew with hospital crayons.
She drew Maple first.
Then Claire.
Then Daniel.
Then Grandma Evelyn standing beside a tall man.
Daniel recognized Grant from the brown jacket Sophie gave him.
She colored a black square beside his hand.
"What's that?" Daniel asked gently.
Sophie frowned as though the answer were obvious.
"His little box."
Daniel kept his tone calm.
"What little box?"
"The one he put in his pocket when Grandma yelled at him."
Daniel's heart accelerated.
"Where were they?"
Sophie pointed at the drawing.
Behind the figures she had drawn three shelves.
The pantry.
"Did you hear what Grandma said?"
Sophie thought for a long time.
"She said, 'That's not what Victor promised.'"
Daniel stopped breathing for a moment.
Grant had not acted entirely on his own.
Victor Shaw's role went beyond paperwork.
Sophie added one more detail.
"Then Uncle Grant said the little box had the real copy."
Daniel immediately called Ramirez.
Police searched Grant's abandoned vehicle again.
This time they removed the rear cargo lining.
Beneath it sat a small black document case.
Inside were forged signature samples, a portable storage drive, and a photograph of Daniel's father's original letter.
But the actual drive Grant had carried in Sophie's drawing was not there.
Ramirez called Daniel twenty minutes later.
"We believe Grant still has the device."
"What's on it?"
"We don't know."
Daniel looked at Sophie's drawing.
A child's crayon had captured what adults missed.
At the bottom of the page, beside Grant's shoes, Sophie had drawn a small red door.
Daniel asked her what it was.
May you like
She whispered two words.
"Lake house."
