Chapter 4 - A Story With Missing Minutes.
Claire returned to the mansion forty minutes later carrying a pharmacy bag and looking offended that anyone had questioned where she had gone.
"I went to get your mother's prescription."
Daniel stood in the foyer with his arms folded.
"Without telling anyone?"
Claire held up the bag.
"You were accusing me of things I didn't do."
Naomi looked at the receipt stapled to the top.
The pharmacy timestamp showed the purchase had been made twelve minutes earlier.
That left nearly half an hour unaccounted for.
Daniel noticed the same thing.
"Where were you before the pharmacy?"
Claire's face hardened.
"Driving."
"For thirty minutes?"
"I needed to clear my head."
Grant Lowell arrived before Daniel could ask another question.
The attorney walked into the foyer carrying a leather briefcase and wearing the expression of a man who had already decided this was not a family misunderstanding.
He asked to speak with Evelyn first.
Claire tried to join them.
Grant stopped her politely.
"Not yet."
Naomi went upstairs with him and Daniel.
Evelyn explained the document, the pressure to sign, and the missing notebook.
Grant listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he asked Naomi to bring him the flash drive.
Daniel inserted it into his laptop at the small writing desk.
There were four video files.
The first showed the upstairs hallway six weeks earlier.
Claire appeared at 11:43 p.m., looked both directions, and entered Evelyn's room while the rest of the family was attending a charity gala.
She stayed inside for nine minutes.
The second file showed Adrian arriving the following morning.
He entered the same bedroom carrying a thin black folder.
The third showed Claire removing something small from the wall beside the security camera.
The fourth file was corrupted.
Daniel leaned closer to the screen.
"Why would Mom have this if the camera was broken?"
Naomi looked at Evelyn.
Evelyn gave a faint smile.
"Because I stopped believing it was broken."
She had asked Henry, the longtime chauffeur, to replace the camera with an older backup unit without telling anyone.
Only Evelyn, Henry, and Naomi knew.
Naomi realized Evelyn had suspected more than she admitted.
Grant asked about the missing notebook.
Evelyn said it contained dates matching the recordings, plus notes about phone calls and documents that appeared around the house.
Daniel rubbed his temples.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Evelyn's eyes softened.
"Because every time I tried, you told me Claire said I was tired."
The sentence landed harder than any accusation.
Daniel looked down.
He remembered dinners where Claire answered questions directed at his mother.
He remembered Claire taking Evelyn's phone because she said the screen confused her.
He remembered laughing when Claire joked that Evelyn needed a babysitter.
None of those moments had seemed important alone.
Together, they formed a pattern he did not want to recognize.
A knock sounded at the door.
Claire entered before anyone invited her.
"Are we done treating me like a suspect?"
Grant closed the laptop.
"We are trying to establish facts."
Claire looked at Daniel.
"And what facts have you established?"
Daniel stood slowly.
"You knew Adrian before you said you did."
Claire blinked.
"What?"
He showed her the photograph.
For one second, she looked genuinely frightened.
Then she sighed.
"Fine."
Daniel waited.
"I met Adrian once."
"Once?"
"He wanted to discuss the engagement because he thought your mother would oppose it."
Grant's expression sharpened.
"Why would a company officer need to discuss Daniel's engagement with you privately?"
Claire looked at him with open dislike.
"Because this family turns everything into business."
Naomi said nothing.
She was watching Claire's handbag.
A corner of a black notebook was visible beneath the zipper.
The cover looked familiar.
Evelyn saw it too.
"My notebook."
Claire's hand snapped to the bag.
Daniel stepped between her and the door.
"Open it."
Claire laughed.
"You cannot be serious."
"Open the bag."
The room became completely silent.
Claire's eyes moved from Daniel to Grant, then to Naomi.
She slowly unzipped the handbag.
Inside were cosmetics, keys, a phone, a small perfume bottle, and a black leather notebook.
Daniel pulled it out.
Evelyn's initials were embossed in gold on the cover.
Claire's face went pale.
"I can explain."
Naomi almost expected Daniel to shout.
Instead, he became very calm.
"Then explain why my mother's private notebook is in your purse."
Claire opened her mouth.
No sound came out.
Then the lights in the bedroom went dark.
A second later, the entire upstairs floor lost power.
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Someone downstairs had shut off the main breaker.
And in the darkness, Naomi heard the bedroom door slam.
