Chapter 4 - THE CURTAIN SEAM
Richard returned to the mansion with Detective Laura Bennett and two forensic officers.
Victoria had been ordered to stay elsewhere while the hospital investigated Lily’s injuries. She claimed Richard was overreacting and threatened to seek emergency custody.
The sitting room remained exactly as they had left it.
Broken glass had been removed.
The blood on the carpet had been cleaned.
But a faint reddish stain remained near the curtain.
Laura examined the security camera.
“The power cable is intact.”
Richard removed the black tape from the indicator light.
The camera immediately blinked.
“It was never broken,” he said.
The local recording system had been disconnected from the internet, but the device still stored footage internally.
A technician removed the memory module for recovery.
Richard approached the red curtain.
The fabric was heavy enough to conceal a narrow pocket along the inner hem. He ran his fingers across the stitching until he felt a rough section near the floor.
Someone had resewn it recently.
Laura cut three threads.
A folded page slid onto the rug.
It was a child’s drawing.
Lily had drawn Victoria beside the chandelier with one hand pointing toward the center of the room. Lily stood beneath it, crying.
Behind the curtain, a second child-sized figure held a white teddy bear.
“Is this supposed to be Lily?” Laura asked.
Richard studied the picture.
The figure behind the curtain wore a blue dress.
Lily had worn blue in the months after Amelia’s death.
Maybe the drawing represented herself hiding there.
At the bottom, in uneven handwriting, Lily had written:
Snowy heard everything.
They searched the curtain pocket again.
No teddy bear appeared.
But a small brass key had been stitched into the lining.
Richard recognized the symbol engraved on it.
Whitmore Biotech.
The key belonged to Amelia’s private archive cabinet.
After her death, Nolan said the cabinet had been emptied and transferred to secure storage.
Richard had never verified that claim.
The original cabinet still stood inside Amelia’s locked study.
Victoria told him the room made Lily upset, so Richard agreed to keep it closed.
He now realized how often Victoria used Lily’s emotions to control which questions he asked.
The brass key opened the cabinet.
Inside were empty folders, a disconnected tablet, and a sealed medical envelope.
The envelope contained neurological evaluations of Lily.
All were normal.
The dates matched periods when Victoria claimed specialists had identified serious behavioral problems.
A handwritten note from Amelia appeared on the final page:
If anyone attempts to declare Lily incapable, contact Grace Holloway directly. Nolan Pierce is not to control medical evidence.
Richard handed the note to Laura.
“Nolan knew Amelia did not trust him.”
“Yet he remained trustee.”
“Because I let him.”
Laura turned on the old tablet.
It required a password.
Richard tried Amelia’s birthday, Lily’s birthday, and their anniversary.
Nothing worked.
Lily’s drawing showed Snowy behind the curtain.
Richard entered the name SNOWY.
The tablet unlocked.
The home screen contained twelve encrypted video files.
The first showed Amelia sitting in the study six days before her death.
“Nolan has been asking me to name a corporate guardian over Lily’s shares,” she said. “He recommends a foundation administrator named Victoria Lane.”
Richard sat down.
Victoria had claimed she first met him almost a year later.
Amelia continued.
“I refused. If anything happens to me, Victoria must never be allowed near Lily.”
The file ended.
Laura looked toward Richard.
“Your wife knew Victoria before you did.”
“No,” he whispered. “Victoria knew us before I knew her.”
A sound came from the hallway.
One of the forensic officers called out.
The front door stood open.
Someone had entered using a valid access code.
A woman in a scarlet gown moved across the security monitor toward Amelia’s study.
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Victoria had returned.
👉 Amelia’s hidden video proved Victoria had targeted the family before her death, and now Victoria was entering the mansion to recover whatever remained in the archive.
