Chapter 6 - BOX 317
The bank would not open Box 317 without Margaret.
Margaret insisted they go immediately.
Detective Brooks came with them.
The box was empty.
Margaret stared.
“No.”
The bank manager checked records.
“It was accessed yesterday.”
“By whom?”
The manager hesitated.
“Thomas Vance.”
Andrew laughed once.
“My father is dead.”
The manager went pale.
The signature card had been authenticated.
Identification had been scanned.
Someone had used Thomas Vance’s identity seven years after his death.
Mariana looked at Andrew.
“Your company credentials. Your father’s identity. Someone is using dead or compromised access.”
Brenda said, “That still doesn’t explain your transfers.”
“No. It doesn’t.”
Mariana appreciated the reminder.
Brenda would not let her turn circumstantial evidence into innocence.
Detective Brooks obtained surveillance footage.
A man wearing a cap entered the vault corridor.
His face was mostly hidden.
He carried a cane.
Margaret sat down.
“What?”
Andrew noticed.
“Mom?”
She pointed.
“Thomas used that cane.”
Brenda frowned.
“Thousands of men use canes.”
“No.”
Margaret looked closer.
“Silver wolf handle.”
Andrew stared.
“My father’s cane is at the manor.”
They returned.
It was gone.
Mariana began thinking about access.
Who could enter the manor?
Family.
Staff.
Brenda.
Board members.
Old friends.
Then Andrew said, “Julian.”
Margaret looked at him.
“No.”
Mariana asked, “Who?”
“Julian Vance.”
Andrew’s uncle.
Thomas’s younger brother.
He had left the company twelve years earlier after a family dispute.
Mariana had met him only twice.
“Where is he?”
Margaret answered.
“Florida.”
Andrew called.
Disconnected.
Brenda searched public records.
“His Florida house sold four months ago.”
“To who?”
“Eastbridge Management.”
Silence.
Mariana looked at Brenda.
“Your mysterious vendor.”
Brenda’s face tightened.
Andrew said, “Julian is stealing from us.”
Mariana shook her head.
“Maybe.”
“You have another theory?”
“I have a rule.”
“What?”
“Stop declaring guilt before evidence.”
Andrew absorbed the rebuke.
He deserved it.
Detective Brooks received a call.
Elias Monroe had regained consciousness.
They returned to the hospital.
The jeweler remembered someone visiting him two weeks earlier.
A woman.
She asked how to remove the necklace clasp without damaging the key inside.
“Who?”
Elias looked at the photographs Brooks showed him.
He stopped at Mariana.
Andrew’s face fell.
May you like
Elias pointed.
“Her.”
