Chapter 4 - THE HOUSE WITH TWO ALARMS
Arthur asked the court for supervised visits.
April refused to enter the visitation room when she saw him.
Rachel stood behind Grandpa.
I agreed to ten minutes because I wanted to hear what Arthur would say when no funeral guests were watching.
He sat across from me with a family supervisor between us.
“You look like Rose,” he said.
“You searched her room.”
“I was looking for medication records.”
“You were looking for the bag.”
His jaw tightened.
“Your mother became frightened near the end.”
“She was frightened of you.”
“That is what illness made her believe.”
He leaned forward.
“If Grandpa opens the envelope, your sisters may lose their home, school, and inheritance.”
“We already lost our home when you left us.”
“I am trying to protect the company that pays for everything.”
The supervisor warned him not to discuss legal documents with me.
Arthur changed his tone instantly.
He asked about school.
I ended the visit.
Grandpa’s house had two security alarms installed that afternoon—one connected to the front doors and one protecting the study where duplicate photographs and receipts were stored.
The original bag remained with Nora under documented custody.
At 2:13 a.m., the study alarm sounded.
Grandpa found the window forced open.
Nothing valuable was missing.
Someone had searched his desk and opened the empty safe.
Police recovered a muddy shoe print and a broken cuff link near the window.
The cuff link carried the Williams company emblem.
Arthur wore an identical pair at Mom’s funeral.
He claimed one had been missing for months.
The evidence was suggestive, not conclusive.
Then April remembered something.
“Daddy had a key,” she said.
“To Grandpa’s house?” I asked.
“No. To Mommy’s bracelet.”
Mom had worn a medical alert bracelet during hospice.
April said Arthur used a tiny key hidden inside his watchband to open it after Mom fell asleep.
“What was inside?” Grandpa asked.
April pointed toward the sealed envelope in Nora’s photograph.
“A little piece of cream paper.”
May you like
Arthur may have removed something from Mom’s bracelet before she gave us the bag.
We still did not know what.
