“She may not have understood the full structure when she married you.”
“When would she have learned?”
“Anyone examining the trust documents carefully would see it.”
My mind returned to Camille spending hours reorganizing our household records.
I had called it helpful.
She had taken over correspondence.
Foundation schedules.
Staff contracts.
Some financial paperwork.
At the time, I thought she was making my life easier.
Now I wondered what she had been mapping.
Martin checked another document.
Then another.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“There should be a sealed letter from Grace attached to the guardianship file.”
“A letter?”
“She left instructions.”
“For me?”
“No.”
That caught me off guard.
“For whom?”
“For the court, if Lily's guardianship was ever challenged.”
“Where is it?”
“It should be here.”
It wasn't.
Thomas began reviewing access logs.
Three people had entered the document room in the previous four months.
Me.
Martin.
Camille.
Then another name appeared.
Bernard Langley.
Camille's father.
Bernard was a real-estate developer and long-time donor to our foundation.
He had welcomed me into his family with almost aggressive warmth.
He called Lily his granddaughter.
Bought her extravagant birthday gifts.
Sat beside me at Christmas dinner.
And apparently he had entered my private document archive twice without my knowledge.
I confronted Camille.
She denied knowing anything.
Then our longtime housekeeper called.
Mrs. Alden had worked for my family for twelve years.
According to Camille, she had gone home with the flu the previous afternoon.
That wasn't true.
Mrs. Alden was in a hospital.
I found out because her daughter answered her phone.
“What happened?”
“She fainted.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Where?”
“Your house.”
My skin went cold.
“No one told me.”
Her daughter hesitated.
“She said Mrs. Whitmore gave her tea. About twenty minutes later, she got dizzy.”
I looked at Camille across the study.
Camille immediately shook her head.
“I did not drug anyone.”
I hadn't even accused her yet.
Mrs. Alden agreed to speak by video.
Her face looked exhausted.
“I'm sorry, Mr. Whitmore.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. Tell me what happened.”
She glanced toward someone off-camera.
Then spoke.
“Three nights ago, I heard Mrs. Whitmore arguing with her father in your library.”
“About what?”
“Documents.”
“What documents?”
“Mrs. Whitmore kept saying they had only found copies.”
My pulse quickened.
“Copies of what?”
“She said the original letter could ruin everything.”
Martin leaned closer to the screen.
Grace's letter.
Mrs. Alden continued.
“Mr. Langley told her to stop panicking. He said once the board changes were complete, the letter wouldn't matter.”
Camille stood abruptly.
“This is absurd.”
Mrs. Alden heard her voice.
Her face changed.