Chapter 6 - THE MISSING DRAWER
I went to Bennett Grand Events with Detective Torres and a company attorney.
Sarah stayed under observation.
Her doctor wanted another forty-eight hours of monitoring.
The sixth-floor finance office looked untouched.
That was the problem.
No forced cabinet.
No broken lock.
No obvious theft.
Sarah’s desk drawer opened with the brass key.
Empty.
Neil had told the truth about that much.
Torres photographed the interior.
A faint rectangular patch of dust marked where Sarah’s blue document folder usually sat.
“Who has access to this floor?”
“Finance staff. Executives. Security.”
“And Evelyn?”
“Not normally.”
Robert did.
Chloe did.
Neil did.
The company attorney obtained badge records.
Sarah left at 4:18 p.m. for the banquet.
Neil entered her office at 8:07.
Evelyn’s badge never appeared.
Robert’s did.
7:43 p.m.
He remained inside eleven minutes.
That happened before Sarah confronted Evelyn downstairs.
My father-in-law had been searching Sarah’s office before the argument.
Torres called him.
His attorney answered.
Robert claimed he entered to retrieve financial documents for a board meeting.
“Which documents?” Torres asked.
No answer.
“What did he remove?”
No answer.
Then Owen noticed something.
Sarah’s office had its own camera pointed toward the entrance.
The camera went offline at 7:41.
Two minutes before Robert entered.
Back online at 7:55.
One minute after he left.
“Technical failure?” I asked.
Owen shook his head.
“The device was manually disabled from the network.”
“By who?”
He pulled the administrator record.
Neil Foster.
My anger surged again.
Neil had disabled Sarah’s camera before Robert entered.
Then opened her desk later using Evelyn’s duplicate key.
The three of them were moving together.
But one fact did not fit.
If Robert removed Sarah’s originals at 7:43, why did Evelyn still desperately want the blue envelope Sarah carried downstairs?
Sarah had made copies.
Which meant Robert either did not find everything or did not know Sarah had duplicates.
My phone rang.
Chloe.
I answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“I need to talk to Sarah.”
“Where’s the envelope?”
A long silence.
“I still have it.”
“Bring it.”
“I can't.”
“Chloe.”
“You don't understand.”
“What don’t I understand?”
Her breathing became uneven.
“Mom knows I took it.”
“Good.”
“No, Mark. Not good.”
“Why?”
“Because she thinks I gave it to you.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then where is it?”
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
She hesitated.
Then whispered, “At the clinic.”
Bellrose Aesthetic Surgery.
The same clinic that had received $74,600 from Larkspur.
“Why there?”
“Because nobody in my family knows what really happened with my surgery.”
I remembered the way she moved cautiously.
The way her hand kept touching the side of her face.
“What are you talking about?”
Chloe began crying.
May you like
“I didn't choose all of it.”
📖 Chloe still had Sarah’s evidence, but her admission about the surgery revealed that Larkspur’s money had purchased far more than a cosmetic procedure. 👇
