Chapter 5 - The Door Calvin Could Not Open
They entered the mansion together.
Paige went first.
Kyle remained beside her.
Calvin and Tabitha followed at a distance.
The house smelled the same as it had on the day Arthur died.
Cedar.
Lemon polish.
The faint scent of roses from the garden.
At the top of the curved staircase, the locked study waited beyond the balcony corridor.
Paige inserted the brass key.
It turned smoothly.
Tabitha stopped breathing.
Paige opened the door.
Dust floated through the sunlight.
The study looked untouched at first.
Arthur’s desk stood beneath the window.
Books lined the walls.
A glass of dried amber liquid remained beside his chair.
But the brick dust on the floor had been disturbed.
Someone had moved the bookcase.
Paige stepped closer.
Behind it was a narrow wall safe.
The safe door stood open.
Empty.
Calvin exhaled as if relieved.
Paige heard it.
“You already searched it.”
“No.”
“You knew the safe was empty.”
“I assumed.”
Kyle walked to the desk.
A drawer had been forced.
The metal lock was bent inward.
Tabitha looked toward the hallway.
Paige blocked the exit.
“Not yet.”
Tabitha lifted her chin.
“You cannot hold us here.”
Paige removed the damp envelope from her apron.
Inside was a letter written in Arthur’s hand.
The first line read:
Paige, if you are holding this key, then someone entered my study before you did.
Calvin lunged for the letter.
Kyle stepped between them.
“Back up.”
Paige continued reading silently.
Arthur wrote that he suspected someone had been altering his heart medication.
He had installed a hidden recording system in the study.
The master storage device was not in the safe.
It was behind a removable stone beneath the balcony window.
Tabitha’s gaze shifted involuntarily toward the floor.
Paige saw it.
So did Kyle.
They moved the rug.
One stone had fresh scratches around its edge.
Paige lifted it.
The compartment beneath was empty.
But inside lay a strip of ivory fabric.
And a diamond earring.
Tabitha touched her left ear.
The earrings she wore matched the one in Paige’s hand.
Calvin stared at her.
“You said you got everything.”
Tabitha’s eyes widened.
Paige slowly looked from one to the other.
“Everything?”
Calvin realized his mistake.
Tabitha realized it too.
May you like
Their partnership had just cracked.
👉 Calvin’s accusation proved they had searched the room together—but Tabitha had hidden something from him as well.
