Chapter 4
I remembered the blue bedroom.
It had white curtains.
A wooden rocking chair.
And a small window overlooking a garden full of roses.
Mommy used to take me there when I was little.
We called it our secret house.
Not because it was really secret.
But because Mommy said it was a place where nobody could ever make us feel unwanted.
I looked at Aunt Denise.
"There's a box in that house."
She turned toward me.
"What kind of box, sweetheart?"
"A wooden one. Mommy kept it under the window."
Daddy leaned forward.
"Do you remember what was inside?"
I shook my head.
"She never opened it when I was there."
Aunt Denise looked at Daddy.
"Marcus, you need to speak with Daniel tomorrow."
Daddy nodded.
But I could see the questions building behind his eyes.
Why hadn't he known about the house?
Why had Vanessa asked about it?
And why had she been so desperate to take Mommy's key?
That night, I slept beside Aunt Denise because I was afraid Vanessa might come looking for me.
I woke three times.
Each time, Aunt Denise whispered that I was safe.
In the morning, Daddy took me to Mr. Carter's office.
It was a brick building near the courthouse.
A kind receptionist offered me apple juice while Daddy signed some paperwork.
Then an older man with silver hair came out of his office.
He stopped when he saw me.
"Maya?"
I nodded.
His eyes grew wet.
"You look just like your mother."
I didn't know what to say.
Nobody had said those words to me in a long time.
He knelt and held out his hand.
"I'm Daniel Carter. I was a friend of your mother's."
I shook his hand.
"Did Mommy really leave me a house?"
He smiled gently.
"She left you something even more important."
My heart lifted.
"What?"
"A future she wanted you to choose for yourself."
We sat around a large wooden desk.
Mr. Carter opened several folders.
Daddy placed Mommy's letter and the suspicious authorization on the desk.
The lawyer examined them carefully.
"The personal letter appears consistent with Olivia's writing," he said. "We'll authenticate everything before relying on it."
Daddy nodded.
"And the withdrawal?"
Mr. Carter pointed to the signature.
"This does not match the signature we have on file."
Daddy pressed his hands together.
"So Vanessa forged it."
"That's a strong possibility. We need the investigators to establish who prepared and submitted it."
He opened another folder.
"Fortunately, the trust funds were never released."
Daddy exhaled.
I didn't understand how much money was involved.
But I understood that Mommy's gift was still safe.
Mr. Carter continued.
"Olivia established a protected trust for Maya after she became ill. The principal was invested and has grown over the years."
Daddy looked at him.
"How much is there?"
Mr. Carter turned the statement around.
My father stared.
Then he covered his face.
I saw the number.
$1,247,860.
I didn't know what to do with that many digits.
Daddy whispered, "Over a million dollars?"
Mr. Carter nodded.
"And the house is held separately for Maya's benefit. She will eventually receive it outright under the trust terms."
Daddy looked completely overwhelmed.
"Why didn't Olivia tell me the exact amount?"
"She intended to discuss the full estate plan with you. Unfortunately, her illness progressed quickly."
His face softened.
"She did leave instructions ensuring that you could obtain the documents whenever you requested them."
Daddy lowered his head.
"I never requested them."
"Because someone told you the estate had been settled," Mr. Carter replied.
Vanessa.
Her name seemed to hang in the air without anyone speaking it.
Mr. Carter showed Daddy the letters his office had sent.
Some had been returned.
Others had delivery confirmations.
One confirmation had Vanessa's signature.
Daddy stared.
"She intercepted them."
Mr. Carter nodded.
"That's what we're concerned about."
He showed us another document.
It was a request to change my mailing address to a private mailbox.
The request included Daddy's name.
But once again, the signature looked wrong.
I could feel Daddy growing angrier.
Then Mr. Carter opened a smaller envelope.
"This arrived at my office three weeks ago."
He removed a photograph.
It showed Vanessa standing outside the white house.
Beside her was a man I had never seen.
They were speaking to someone near the front gate.
"Who is that?" Daddy asked.
"We're trying to identify him."
I leaned forward.
The man's face looked familiar.
I thought for a moment.
Then I remembered.
"He came to our house."
Everyone turned toward me.
Daddy spoke gently.
"When?"
"A few weeks ago. You were at work."
"What happened?"
"He and Vanessa were talking in the kitchen."
Mr. Carter placed the photograph closer.
"Are you sure it's the same man?"
I nodded.
"He had a big gold watch."
Daddy asked, "What were they saying?"
I searched my memory.
"I heard Vanessa tell him she needed the money before somebody noticed."
The room became silent.
Then I remembered another thing.
"She called him Raymond."
Mr. Carter immediately wrote down the name.
Daddy leaned back in his chair.
"Her brother."
I looked at him.
"Vanessa has a brother?"
Daddy nodded slowly.
"Raymond Brooks. She told me he lived in Florida."
Mr. Carter made another note.
"That gives us someone to investigate."
He explained that the trust's legal protections had prevented the attempted withdrawal.
But somebody might still have tried to obtain control of the house through other documents.
My father asked whether we could visit it.
Mr. Carter agreed to arrange access with the property manager.
We went that afternoon.
Aunt Denise came with us.
When the white house appeared at the end of the long driveway, I felt something inside me change.
I remembered the roses.
The blue bedroom.
Mommy's laughter.
We stepped inside.
Everything smelled clean and familiar.
The furniture was covered with protective sheets.
Daddy stood in the entrance, blinking back tears.
"Olivia never brought me here."
Aunt Denise touched his shoulder.
"She wanted to surprise you after her treatment."
He looked away.
For a moment, I forgot about Vanessa.
I ran upstairs.
The blue bedroom was exactly as I remembered.
The rocking chair still stood beside the window.
But when I knelt beneath it, the small wooden box was gone.
"Daddy!"
He hurried into the room.
"What happened?"
"The box!"
I pointed at the empty space.
"It was right here!"
He looked around.
Then Aunt Denise noticed something near the baseboard.
Fresh scratches.
As though something heavy had recently been dragged across the floor.
Daddy called Mr. Carter.
While they spoke, I walked toward the closet.
The door was slightly open.
Inside, beneath a folded blanket, I saw something shiny.
A silver key.
Exactly like the one Vanessa had tried to take.
But this one had a small blue ribbon attached.
I picked it up.
Tied to the ribbon was a tiny handwritten label.
FOR MAYA.
May you like
And underneath, in Mommy's handwriting, were four words.
"Look behind the roses."
