The Seventh Panel
Chapter 04 - The Seventh Panel
Police secured Hawthorne House before sunrise.
Daniel’s attorney objected to the search, arguing that the hallway damage resulted from an emotional family dispute. Lena responded with the guardianship petition, toxicology report, and photographs of the destroyed wall.
A judge signed the warrant.
Claire remained in the hospital while Lena, Marta, Sophie, and a forensic locksmith entered the mansion.
Sophie insisted on going.
Lena initially refused.
Then Sophie explained that Robert’s instructions were a rhyme only she remembered.
Seven lights guard seven doors.
The bird looks down where memory sleeps.
The key turns left when liars turn right.
Robert had taught it to her as a game.
Daniel assumed it was a bedtime poem.
The seventh panel stood mostly intact because Daniel began smashing from the opposite end of the corridor.
Above it, the brass swallow pointed toward a carved leaf in the molding.
The locksmith pressed the leaf.
A narrow keyhole appeared.
Sophie inserted the brass key and turned it left.
A section of paneling released with a soft click.
Behind it was a steel compartment.
Inside sat a red leather ledger, two envelopes, a portable audio recorder, and a small black drive.
On top was a note in Robert’s handwriting.
CLAIRE MORGAN VALE — OPEN WITH WITNESSES.
Marta began crying.
Lena photographed every object before removing it.
The first envelope contained the original 1988 partnership charter. Eleanor Morgan owned forty-nine percent of Vale Crown Holdings and retained permanent rights to the land beneath the first hotel.
The second held Robert’s amended will.
It ordered the company to restore Eleanor’s stake to Claire and transfer a separate voting trust to Sophie when she turned twenty-five.
The red ledger documented money diverted from Eleanor’s accounts after the fire.
The audio recorder held Robert’s confession.
But the black drive was encrypted.
A label on its side read:
BLACKWOOD ROAD.
That was the road where Claire’s brakes failed.
Lena looked toward Marta.
“Was the accident investigated?”
“Daniel controlled the insurance claim,” Marta said. “Dr. Keene said Claire’s memory was unreliable.”
Sophie stood beneath the broken wall.
“Mommy said the car wouldn’t stop.”
Lena sealed the drive.
“The wall may remember more than the company.”
As officers carried the evidence outside, a black SUV stopped beyond the gates.
Helena Vale stepped out.
Daniel’s mother wore a cream coat and pearls.
She looked at the open panel.
Then at Sophie.
“You foolish little girl,” Helena said.
Marta moved in front of the child.
Lena raised her badge.
“Mrs. Vale, choose your next sentence carefully.”
Helena smiled.
“I was speaking as a grandmother.”
Sophie answered from behind Marta.
May you like
“No. Grandmothers don’t help fathers scare children.”
The smile left Helena’s face.
