Chapter 4 - The Car at the North Gate.
Mason was out of the library before Patricia could stand.
Clara followed him down the corridor, while Patricia called after them with clipped instructions that neither of them obeyed.
At the top of the stairs, Avery stood beside Russell in pink slippers and a cardigan, her cocoa untouched in both hands.
Mason knelt quickly.
"Stay with Russell."
Avery studied his face.
"Are you mad at Clara?"
"No."
"At Grandma?"
Mason paused.
"I'm trying to understand something."
Avery nodded with the solemn seriousness children sometimes offered when adults finally admitted uncertainty.
Mason and Clara reached the foyer just as a staff member carried the last cardboard box toward the front entrance.
Mason stopped him.
"Put it down."
The man froze.
"Mrs. Vale said—"
"I know what she said."
The box went to the floor.
Outside, headlights glowed beyond the rain-streaked glass.
A black sedan waited at the circular drive with its trunk open.
Clara's coat and two boxes were already inside.
Mason stepped onto the covered porch.
The driver came around the car.
"Mr. Cross, I was told Miss Hayes requested immediate transport."
"By whom?"
The driver glanced toward the house.
"Mrs. Vale's assistant."
Mason held out his hand.
"Keys."
The driver hesitated only a moment before surrendering them.
Mason closed the trunk and locked the car.
"Nobody removes anything from this property tonight."
Clara stood behind him, arms folded against the cold.
She looked less frightened than embarrassed.
"I don't want this turning into a scene because of me."
Mason turned.
"It stopped being because of you when someone forged my name."
Patricia appeared in the doorway.
"The car was arranged for convenience."
Mason walked back beneath the porch light.
"Whose convenience?"
"Clara's position here had become unstable."
"You made it unstable."
Patricia's expression sharpened.
"You have no idea what that woman brought into this house."
Clara flinched.
Mason caught the phrasing.
"That woman has a name."
Patricia looked past him at Clara.
"Names are exactly the problem."
Mason stared at her.
Clara seemed to hear something in the sentence that he did not.
"What does that mean?" Clara asked.
Patricia said nothing.
Mason returned inside and motioned for security chief Daniel Price to join them.
Daniel arrived within minutes carrying a tablet.
Mason handed him the false termination letter.
"I want every door log, camera record, message authorization, and staff instruction connected to Clara's departure preserved."
Patricia gave a disbelieving laugh.
"You are investigating your own family?"
"I'm investigating a forged signature."
Daniel looked at the paper.
"This isn't your digital signing code."
"I know."
"But it uses the old executive stamp."
Mason looked up.
Only four people had ever been permitted to use that stamp.
One was Mason.
One was his attorney.
One had been Evelyn.
The fourth was Patricia, back when she handled family administration during the year after Evelyn's death.
Patricia did not deny it.
Daniel scrolled through the security logs.
"There's something else."
Mason waited.
"Miss Hayes's access card was scheduled for deactivation at midnight."
Clara's face tightened.
"Who scheduled it?"
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
"The request came from Mr. Cross's household account."
Mason's voice dropped.
"My account was compromised?"
Daniel nodded.
"Possibly."
Patricia folded her arms.
"Or perhaps someone had permission you no longer remember giving."
Mason looked at her.
"Keep talking."
She did not.
Daniel tapped another screen.
"The north gate authorization was stranger."
"How?"
"It wasn't entered from Mrs. Vale's device."
Patricia's eyes lifted.
"What?"
Daniel turned the tablet toward Mason.
"It came from the old study terminal."
That room had been locked for years.
It had belonged to Evelyn.
Mason felt a cold pressure behind his ribs.
"Who entered the study?"
Daniel pulled up the interior camera log.
The camera outside the study showed one person unlocking the door at 6:42 p.m.
It was Russell.
Mason looked toward the staircase.
Avery was no longer there.
Neither was Russell.
Clara saw it at the same moment.
"Where is Avery?"
Daniel's phone buzzed.
He answered and listened.
His face changed.
"Mr. Cross, Russell just took Avery into the old study."
Mason was already moving.
May you like
Behind him, Patricia whispered one sentence that stopped Clara cold.
"He found Evelyn's second letter."
