Chapter 7 - The Safe Deposit Box
The hospital hallway became a crime scene again.
Detective Reese reviewed cameras. Paul Raines had never reached Emily’s room, but a woman in housekeeping had entered twenty minutes earlier.
The uniform was real.
The employee was not.
“She took the key,” Emily said.
Michael rubbed his face. “Sophia?”
“No. Too short.”
Reese paused the footage. “We’ll identify her.”
Emily looked at Michael. “The bank opens at nine.”
“You’re not going.”
Her eyes hardened.
He corrected himself immediately. “I’m asking you not to go.”
“Better.”
At 9:07, Reese called the bank manager.
The safe deposit box had been accessed at 8:42.
By Emily Carter.
Emily was still in a hospital bed.
Someone had used a forged ID.
The bank froze the lobby while police arrived, but the woman had already left.
She had taken a slim red folder from the box.
Michael nearly laughed at the cruelty of it. “So that’s where it was.”
Emily nodded. “I moved it there after Sophia started asking questions.”
Reese asked, “Was everything in one folder?”
“No. I made copies.”
Michael looked at her.
Emily continued, “Your father taught me one thing without meaning to. Never keep the only copy in the obvious place.”
“Where’s the second set?”
“Mason’s school art box.”
Michael blinked. “What?”
“No one searches construction paper.”
For the first time in two days, Mason smiled.
Reese sent an officer.
Forty minutes later the officer called.
The art box was empty.
Mason’s smile vanished.
“Who knew?” Reese asked.
Emily shook her head. “Nobody.”
Mason stared at the floor.
Then he whispered, “I told Grandma.”
Michael turned. “When?”
“Last week. She asked why Mom kept saying my art was important.”
Helen Carter—Michael and Sophia’s mother—had barely spoken since the fall.
Michael called her.
No answer.
Again.
Voicemail.
Reese said, “Where does she live?”
“Ten minutes away.”
They found Helen’s front door open.
The house was empty.
On the dining table sat Mason’s blue art box.
Inside was one piece of red paper.
Written across it in Helen’s handwriting were six words:
MICHAEL, I KNOW WHAT SOPHIA DID.
May you like
Underneath:
SHE KNOWS I KNOW TOO.
