Chapter 4 - The Locked Study
Nicole folded the missing page before Paxton could see it clearly.
The decision lasted less than a second.
It still felt like betrayal.
"It's a list of names."
Paxton watched her carefully.
"Whose?"
Nicole handed him the page but covered the handwritten warning with her thumb.
"Your mother, Arthur, Reeves, and three board members."
Paxton read the typed section.
"That's the Halcyon committee."
"All six support the sale?"
"Five do."
Nicole looked at him.
"Which one doesn't?"
"Arthur."
Nicole blinked.
"Arthur just tried to make me sign a statement that could destroy me."
"I didn't say he was good."
"You said he opposed the sale."
"He opposed the original terms."
Nicole took the page back.
"Why?"
"Because Halcyon wanted to remove the Mercer name from the aviation division."
"That's his concern?"
"Arthur worships legacy."
Paxton closed his eyes briefly.
"He would burn half the company down to keep the family name on the other half."
Nicole looked again at the typed heading.
HALCYON TRANSITION - REQUIRED SIGNATURES.
"If Arthur doesn't support the deal, why is his signature required?"
Paxton looked puzzled.
"I don't know."
Nicole uncovered the red handwritten sentence.
Paxton saw it.
DO NOT TRUST PAXTON.
Silence filled the room.
Paxton's face became unreadable.
Nicole watched him closely.
"Who left this outside the door?"
"I don't know."
"Do you know who wrote the warning?"
"No."
"Should I trust you?"
Paxton met her eyes.
"You shouldn't trust anyone because they ask you to."
The answer unsettled her more than a denial would have.
"That's convenient."
"It's true."
"Then prove yourself."
Paxton glanced toward the old study wing.
"Get the records."
Nicole folded the page and slipped it into her blouse.
"Tell me exactly where the key is."
Paxton described the east hallway portrait.
His grandfather stood beside an antique airplane, one hand resting on the propeller.
The frame had a small brass hinge at the bottom.
Behind it was a narrow recess.
Inside the recess was a key.
Nicole waited until the hallway camera rotated toward the western staircase.
Paxton had memorized its seven-second sweep pattern while drifting in and out of consciousness.
She stepped into the hall carrying an empty water glass.
To anyone watching, she looked like a worried wife heading toward the kitchen.
At the first intersection, she turned right instead of left.
The east hall was lined with family portraits and old aviation photographs.
Nicole passed three paintings of stern men who looked as though smiling had been prohibited by inheritance law.
Then she found the portrait.
A broad-shouldered man stood beside a silver propeller plane.
The painting was so self-important that Nicole instantly understood Paxton's description.
"Definitely the ugly one."
She pretended to examine the frame.
Her finger found the hinge.
The portrait shifted outward half an inch.
Behind it was a narrow cavity.
The key rested inside.
Nicole took it.
A voice sounded behind her.
"Looking for something?"
Nicole turned.
Arthur Vale stood at the far end of the corridor.
Her pulse jumped.
She kept the key hidden inside her palm.
"A bathroom."
Arthur looked toward the nearby door.
"That's a portrait."
Nicole shrugged.
"Big house."
Arthur walked closer.
"The bathroom is the other direction."
"Thank you."
Nicole started past him.
Arthur stepped slightly into her path.
"Why were you touching the frame?"
Nicole lifted the water glass.
"I felt dizzy."
Arthur's gaze dropped to her closed hand.
"Open your hand."
Nicole laughed softly.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"You're a lawyer, Arthur."
"Yes."
"Not a prison guard."
His expression did not change.
"Open your hand."
Nicole looked at him for a moment.
Then she opened it.
Empty.
Arthur frowned.
The key had already slipped beneath the cuff of her blouse.
Nicole held up both hands.
"Satisfied?"
Arthur stepped aside.
"Be careful in this wing."
"Why?"
"Old houses have rooms people should leave closed."
Nicole walked away without responding.
She did not head toward the bathroom.
She headed toward the kitchen.
She spent five minutes there making tea she did not want.
Then she returned to Paxton's room.
Arthur was gone.
The black notebook was also gone.
Nicole stopped in the doorway.
"Where is it?"
Paxton opened his eyes.
"My mother took it."
"When?"
"Two minutes ago."
Nicole set the tea down.
"Did she say anything?"
"She asked whether you had been reading it."
Nicole's stomach tightened.
"What did you do?"
"Played dead."
"Very helpful."
"It's my strongest skill today."
Nicole almost smiled despite herself.
Then she showed him the key hidden in her cuff.
"I found it."
Paxton's expression sharpened.
"You have maybe an hour before Reeves gets here."
"Can Dana help?"
"If she's still on the property."
Nicole checked the clock.
5:12 p.m.
The board vote was scheduled for ten the following morning.
She needed evidence before then.
But leaving Paxton alone felt impossible.
"What if someone comes in while I'm gone?"
"I'll stay unconscious."
"And if Reeves comes early?"
Paxton's face became serious.
"Then I wake up."
Nicole stared at him.
"You said that was dangerous."
"Less dangerous than letting him examine me while I pretend."
Nicole took his hand.
"No more hero decisions without me."
"Agreed."
"You said that too quickly."
"I'm weak."
"You're impossible."
"Also true."
Nicole leaned down and kissed his forehead just below the bandage.
For the first time in three days, she allowed herself to believe he might actually come home from this.
Then she left the room.
The entrance to the old study sat behind a narrow archway near the rear library.
Dust gathered along the brass handle.
According to Evelyn, nobody had entered since Paxton's father died.
Nicole inserted the key.
The lock turned smoothly.
Too smoothly.
The room had not been untouched for six years.
Someone had been maintaining the lock.
Nicole stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
The study smelled faintly of cedar, paper, and old leather.
Books covered two walls.
A large mahogany desk faced tall windows overlooking the garden.
No dust covered the desk.
Nicole's heartbeat quickened.
Someone used this room.
She checked the obvious drawers first.
Stationery.
Old contracts.
A fountain pen.
A box of cuff links.
Nothing useful.
Paxton had said the real records were there.
Nicole searched the bookshelves.
She found annual reports from Mercer Aviation going back thirty years.
Most were ordinary.
Then she noticed one volume was upside down.
She pulled it free.
A small metal switch clicked behind it.
The center bookshelf released with a soft mechanical sound.
Nicole stared.
"Of course your family has a secret wall."
She pushed the shelf.
Behind it was a narrow safe.
The keypad lit when she touched it.
Nicole had no code.
She tried Paxton's birthday.
Rejected.
His father's birthday.
Rejected.
Their wedding date.
Rejected.
Then she remembered something Paxton once told her about his father.
The man had loved airplanes more than people.
His favorite aircraft was a 1967 Beechcraft Bonanza.
Nicole entered 1967.
The safe unlocked.
Inside were three binders, a flash drive, and a sealed envelope with Paxton's name written across the front.
Nicole took everything.
Then she heard the study door open.
She froze.
The bookshelf was still partly shifted.
Footsteps entered the room.
Nicole looked around for somewhere to hide.
There was nowhere.
She pushed the shelf closed just as the footsteps reached the desk.
The safe remained open behind her.
A woman's voice spoke from the other side of the shelf.
"I know you're in here."
Nicole stopped breathing.
The voice was not Evelyn's.
It was Dana's.
Nicole opened the shelf.
Dana stood in the study holding her medical bag.
Relief hit so hard Nicole nearly laughed.
"You didn't leave."
Dana closed the door behind her.
"I was escorted to my car."
"Then how are you here?"
"The staff entrance."
Dana looked at the open safe.
"You found it."
Nicole's relief disappeared.
"You knew about the safe?"
Dana hesitated.
"Yes."
Nicole stepped back.
"How?"
Dana placed her bag on the desk.
"Because Paxton's father showed it to me six years ago."
Nicole stared at her.
"You knew his father?"
"I was his private nurse before he died."
Nicole felt the room shift again.
"Paxton never told me that."
"Paxton doesn't know."
Dana reached into her bag and removed a small envelope.
"His father asked me to give him this if the family ever tried to force a sale."
Nicole looked at the envelope.
"Why didn't you give it to him before?"
"Because I didn't know they had started until I saw the notebook."
Nicole opened the envelope.
Inside was a handwritten letter dated six years earlier.
The first line stopped her cold.
Paxton, if you are reading this, your mother has decided the company matters more than you do.
Nicole looked up at Dana.
"What happened to his father?"
Dana's face tightened.
"The official story was a heart attack."
"And the real story?"
May you like
Dana looked toward the locked study door.
"That's why you need to read the rest of the letter."
