Chapter 2 - The Locked Room
The party ended within minutes.
Harrison ordered every guest out, but it was too late.
Phones had already captured the confrontation.
By midnight, Manhattan society was whispering about the Sterling maid and Evelyn’s missing necklace.
Inside the library, Lucas questioned Harrison, Camille, and family attorney Martin Blackwood.
Nora showed them an old photograph of Rose standing beside Evelyn.
On the back, Evelyn had written:
Rose knows where the truth sleeps.
Harrison claimed Rose had stolen from the family.
“You said she resigned,” Nora replied.
His silence exposed another lie.
Then Nora noticed Martin’s cuff link.
Black enamel.
A tiny emerald.
The initials E.S.
Exactly like Evelyn’s pendant.
Lucas demanded answers.
Martin gave none.
Nora remembered something Rose had once called “the winter room.”
Lucas knew the place.
An abandoned conservatory sealed after Evelyn’s death.
The brass key opened its doors.
Inside, beneath eighteen years of dust, they found an old writing desk.
The same key opened a hidden drawer.
Inside were photographs, a cassette recorder, and an envelope marked:
FOR LUCAS.
Lucas opened it.
His mother’s handwriting filled the page.
Trust Rose.
Do not trust your father.
A floorboard creaked behind him.
Lucas turned.
May you like
Harrison stood in the doorway.
And he was holding a gun.
