Chapter 4 - The Phantom in the Archives
The scandal broke like a sudden thunderstorm over the financial district, but inside the private library of Asche Hall, the silence was absolute.
Arthur sat at his late father’s mahogany desk, lit only by the green glow of a banker’s lamp. On the blotter before him lay three separate files: his late wife Eleanor’s autopsy report from eighteen months ago, the newly discovered transfer agreement for Lily, and the original toxicology screen from the night Eleanor mysteriously suffered heart failure.
Lily slept on the leather sofa across the room, wrapped in a heavy wool blanket, her pearl headband sitting on the side table like a forgotten artifact.
Arthur stared at the signature on the bottom of Eleanor’s final medical waiver. It wasn't Eleanor’s handwriting. The subtle, microscopic loop on the letter 'e' matched the signature Victoria had used on the prenuptial agreement sixty days ago.
The door to the library unlocked with a soft, metallic click.
Arthur didn't reach for a weapon. He didn't jump up. He simply watched as the shadow stretched across the Persian rug.
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A tall man in a dark trench coat stepped into the lamplight. It was Detective Marcus Vance—the lead investigator who had closed Eleanor’s case eighteen months ago, declaring it a natural death due to undiagnosed cardiac arrhythmia.
"You should have married her, Arthur," Vance said softly, pulling a silenced pistol from his coat. "It would have been much cleaner for everyone involved."
