Chapter 5 - The Empty Drawer
Nathan returned to the mansion with two private security officers.
Evelyn’s study smelled faintly of dust and cedar.
Nothing looked disturbed.
Then Nathan saw the desk.
One drawer was open.
Empty.
His estate manager, Daniel, stood beside him.
“That drawer was locked.”
“What was inside?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan did.
His grandmother had kept family legal records there.
Nathan checked the hallway logs.
A service entrance had opened seventeen minutes after Victoria left.
Someone had used an active access code.
Only six people had one.
Nathan.
Daniel.
Two senior security employees.
Victoria.
And Harold Vance.
Nathan immediately called Harold.
No answer.
He called again.
Voicemail.
Then Daniel quietly said, “There’s something else.”
He handed Nathan a tablet.
A camera outside the service entrance had remained online.
The footage showed a man in a cap entering.
His face was obscured.
But his right hand carried a distinctive gold-headed cane.
Nathan recognized it.
Harold Vance.
“Find him.”
Daniel nodded.
Nathan searched Evelyn’s desk himself.
Behind the empty drawer, his fingers touched paper.
A folded receipt had slipped into the wooden frame.
It came from a private genetics laboratory.
Dated sixteen months earlier.
Nathan stared at it.
PATERNITY ANALYSIS.
The names were partially torn away.
But one remained.
NATHAN MERCER.
His pulse thundered.
Evelyn had tested something before Lily was born.
Or had tried to.
Nathan called Grace.
“Did Grandma ever take a DNA sample from me?”
A pause.
“She said she had one.”
“How?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Nathan looked again at the receipt.
The test had been canceled.
Reason:
SAMPLE COMPROMISED.
Someone had interfered.
He turned the paper over.
Evelyn’s handwriting appeared on the back.
Three words.
NOT THE FIRST TIME.
Nathan felt cold.
Not the first time someone had tampered with a DNA test?
Or not the first time someone had interfered with his family?
His phone rang.
Victoria.
He almost ignored it.
Then answered.
Her voice was shaking.
“Nathan, Harold is lying to you.”
“You just confirmed he’s involved.”
Silence.
Victoria realized her mistake.
Nathan’s voice dropped.
“What did Harold take from the drawer?”
“I don’t know.”
“You have ten seconds.”
“Nathan—”
“Ten.”
Victoria began crying.
Then she whispered something that changed the entire investigation.
“Your grandmother wasn’t investigating Lily’s paternity.”
Nathan gripped the phone.
May you like
“Then whose?”
Victoria disconnected.
