Chapter 5: The Summons and the Safety Deposit Box
Nathan walked back into the kitchen.
"You filed the complaint," he said.
Victoria picked up her handbag from the counter.
"I protected my family's interests.
The same thing your father did five years ago."
"Those records are fabricated."
"Prove it."
"I will." He moved to block the doorway.
"The safety deposit box.
The one my father left for Grace.
Where is it?"
Something moved behind Victoria's eyes.
Fast, and then gone.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"My father gave Grace a key six weeks after the settlement.
A safety deposit box at a bank he controlled.
He died eight months later." Nathan watched her face.
"The box was never claimed.
Grace didn't know what was in it.
But my father did." He tilted his head slightly.
"Did your father know about the box?"
"Move out of my way, Nathan."
"Did your father have my father's estate records reviewed after he died?"
"I said move."
"Because if he did — if someone emptied that box before Grace could ever reach it — that would explain a great deal about why your father was so confident the fabricated records would never be challenged." He stepped aside.
"You can go.
But you should know that Daniel Marsh is already pulling the estate records.
Every transaction, every access log, every safety deposit entry from the six months after my father died."
Victoria walked past him without speaking.
At the front door, she paused.
"You think you're protecting her," she said, without turning around.
"You're not.
You're making her a target.
My father does not lose gracefully, Nathan.
Neither do I." She opened the door.
"Think about Lily before you do anything else.
Think about what a prolonged legal fight does to a four-year-old child."
The door closed behind her.
Nathan stood in the hallway for a moment.
Then he went to find Grace.
She was in the sitting room, Lily asleep across her lap, the stuffed rabbit tucked under the child's chin.
Grace looked up when he entered.
She had heard enough.
"The summons," she said.
"How long do I have?"
"Daniel thinks tomorrow morning.
Possibly tonight." Nathan sat across from her.
"Grace, my father left you a key to a safety deposit box.
Do you still have it?"
She looked at him for a moment.
Then she reached into the small zippered pocket of her uniform and drew out a worn key on a plain metal ring.
She had been carrying it for five years.
"I didn't know which bank," she said.
"He never told me."
"I do." Nathan recognized the key immediately — the small stamped number on the bow matched the private vault his father had used for personal documents.
"It's at Meridian Private Bank on Calloway Street.
I have authorization on that account as estate executor." He paused.
"Whatever is in that box, my father put it there for you.
For Lily."
Grace looked down at her daughter's sleeping face.
"What if it's not enough?
What if the fabricated records are too detailed to disprove?"
"Then we find another way." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
"But Grace — I need to ask you something, and I need you to answer honestly."
"All right."
"Is there anyone else who knew the truth?
Anyone who was there five years ago, who saw what my father and Hargrove did to you?
Any witness at all?"
Grace was quiet for a moment.
Lily shifted in her sleep, and Grace's hand moved automatically to settle her.
"There was a lawyer," Grace said finally.
"A young one.
He was there the day I signed.
He sat in the corner and he didn't speak.
But when your father and Hargrove left the room for a moment, he slid a business card across the table." She paused.
"He said, 'Keep this.
You may need it someday.' I kept it."
Nathan sat very still.
"Do you still have it?"
Grace reached into her pocket again.
Behind the key, folded into a small square, was a business card so worn the edges had gone soft.
She unfolded it and held it out.
The name on the card was *Thomas Ellery, Attorney at Law.*
Below the name, in small handwritten ink: *I saw everything.*
Nathan read it twice.
Then he looked up at Grace.
"Do you know if he's still practicing?"
"I looked him up once," Grace said.
"Two years ago.
He left private practice.
He's a professor now.
Contract law, at Harwick University."
Nathan was already reaching for his phone.
Outside, a car started in the driveway.
Victoria, leaving.
Nathan listened to the sound of it until it faded.
Then Daniel Marsh's line connected, and Nathan said four words of his own.
May you like
"Find Thomas Ellery.
Tonight."
