Chapter 3 - THE FINGERPRINTS PLACED ON THE BADGE.
Claire admitted touching the badge earlier that morning.
The guard, Marcus Reed, had secretly given it to her so she could enter the estate records room.
He believed Eleanor was stealing from the employees’ housing fund.
Eleanor seized on the admission.
“She broke into private files using stolen credentials.”
Claire answered through chattering teeth.
“Marcus gave me access because your staff had paid into that fund for thirty years and never received a single deed.”
Eleanor’s smile sharpened.
“Employees receive wages. They do not earn ownership because they mop floors near valuable property.”
Daniel looked toward the two staff members standing by the glass doors.
Neither lowered their eyes this time.
One of them, Rosa, said her parents had surrendered part of every paycheck to an estate cooperative created after a hurricane nearly bankrupted the Vale family.
Those workers rebuilt the mansion without overtime.
Eleanor later called their payments “voluntary loyalty contributions.”
Then Marcus emerged from the hedges, bruised only by exhaustion and holding a waterproof folder.
“I wasn’t missing,” he said. “Your mother locked me in the pump room.”
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Inside the folder was the original cooperative deed.
The majority trustee’s name was Claire Morgan.
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