Chapter 8 - The Side Room
The side room had once been the household bookkeeping office.
Clara Morgan kept payroll records there.
After the family removed her from the Thanksgiving portrait, they also removed her from the accounts.
Victoria had restored the old computer system inside the room months earlier.
She claimed it was for historical archiving.
In reality, the terminal still carried Eleanor’s trust credentials.
By isolating Eleanor inside, Victoria could submit documents from the correct location and make them appear authentic.
Ethan looked at her.
“You used my mother’s room to forge her approval.”
Victoria’s confidence cracked.
“I did not forge anything.”
Leah opened the login record.
Someone used Eleanor’s credentials at 3:17 p.m.
During that time, Victoria had been posing for photographs in the foyer.
She smiled with relief.
“Then I could not have done it.”
The evidence pointed elsewhere.
Leah had entered the side room at 3:15 to deliver Eleanor’s tea.
The room turned toward her.
Again, suspicion traveled downward.
Victoria seized it immediately.
“She had the access.”
Leah’s face burned.
“I left thirty seconds later.”
“You knew the password.”
“No.”
Eleanor reached for Leah’s hand.
“She never used my computer.”
The hallway camera confirmed Leah entered and left carrying the same tray.
But another person entered through a concealed staff passage behind the fireplace.
Ethan recognized the figure.
His younger brother, Charles.
Charles had told the family he was spending Thanksgiving in London.
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Instead, he had been inside the mansion all afternoon.
And he was the secret partner in Victoria’s development company.
