Chapter 1 - The Purple Shoe“She took it.”
Lily's tiny voice seemed impossibly loud inside the security room.
I held her tighter.
“Lily, don't say things you don't understand.”
“But she did.”
Marcus Cole looked at my daughter.
“What makes you think she took it?”
Lily pointed at the monitor.
“She put Mommy's phone in her pocket.”
Marcus glanced at me.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes, sir.”
He looked back at Lily.
“What else did she take?”
Lily frowned.
She was thinking.
That expression always meant trouble.
Then she pointed toward another screen.
“The little box.”
Marcus turned.
The camera showed Vanessa entering the library.
She walked toward an antique cabinet.
Opened a drawer.
Removed a small black box.
My stomach tightened.
I recognized it.
It belonged to Marcus's mother.
I'd seen it once while dusting the library.
A velvet-lined jewelry box.
“What's inside?” Marcus asked.
I shook my head.
“I don't know.”
He didn't look at me.
“Lily.”
She leaned forward.
“Gold.”
Marcus's expression changed.
“How do you know?”
“She showed me.”
“When?”
Lily shrugged.
“Yesterday.”
I stared at my daughter.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“You were cleaning.”
That was apparently enough explanation.
Marcus replayed the footage.
Vanessa removed the box.
Then the video skipped.
Marcus frowned.
He rewound.
The same section skipped again.
He tried another camera.
The screen went black for twelve seconds.
He checked another.
Black.
Then another.
Black.
Marcus slowly leaned back.
“Someone edited the footage.”
My heart began pounding.
He looked at me.
“Your phone was connected to the estate's Wi-Fi.”
“I don't understand.”
“Neither do I.”
He stood.
Then walked toward a locked cabinet.
He entered a code.
Inside were several hard drives.
He removed one.
“Yesterday, I noticed irregularities in the foundation accounts.”
I stared.
“What foundation?”
“My mother's.”
Marcus's mother, Eleanor Cole, ran the Cole Family Foundation.
It funded children's hospitals, food programs, and scholarships across New York.
“Someone has been moving money,” he continued.
“How much?”
“Eight-point-four million dollars.”
My mouth fell open.
“And you think Vanessa—”
“I don't think anything yet.”
He looked at the monitor.
“But I know someone has been accessing systems they shouldn't.”
Lily suddenly tugged my sleeve.
“Mister Marcus.”
“Yes?”
“She wasn't alone.”
Marcus froze.
“Who was with her?”
Lily pointed at the screen.
“Man.”
Marcus replayed the footage.
There.
For less than two seconds, a reflection appeared in the glass.
A man's silhouette.
Marcus zoomed in.
The image became grainy.
But the face was recognizable.
Marcus's face changed.
I had never seen fear on him before.
“That's impossible.”
“Who is he?” I whispered.
Marcus didn't answer.
He stared at the screen.
Then he said:
“My father.”
I looked at him.
“But your father is dead.”
Marcus nodded.
“He died eleven years ago.”
Lily looked between us.
Then she said something that made Marcus go completely still.
“No.”
May you like
She pointed at the screen.
“That man is not dead.”
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