Chapter 6 - The Discovery
By Wednesday evening, the atmosphere inside Elias’s small craftsman house was focused and resolute.
While Ethan rested in the living room, doing homework assigned by his school counsellor who had been briefed on the situation, Elias sat at his workbench in the garage.
The garage smelled of saw dust, motor oil, and iron. On the heavy oak workbench sat an old steel lockbox that had belonged to his son, Richard.
Elias picked up a brass key, inserted it into the lock, and turned it.
The lid opened with a heavy click.
Inside lay a collection of private journals, memory cards, and a sealed manila envelope marked: IN CASE OF EMERGENCY - FOR ELIAS.
Elias pulled the envelope out, his fingers trembling slightly as he recognized his late son's handwriting. He tore the top seal open and pulled out a small USB flash drive along with a four-page typed letter.
Elias plugged the flash drive into a rugged laptop sitting on the workbench.
The screen lit up, displaying a series of audio files and home security video backups pulled from the mansion’s internal server six months ago.
Elias clicked the first video file.
The screen showed the mansion’s study. Richard Carter was sitting in a wheelchair, looking frail and ill, while Miranda stood over him, shouting, slamming papers onto his desk, and aggressively pulling a pen into his weak hand while demanding he sign over his executive voting rights.
Elias clicked the second file—an audio recording dated two weeks before Richard's passing.
Miranda’s voice filled the quiet garage, clear, cruel, and unmistakable:
“If you leave anything to Ethan in a independent trust, Richard, I will make sure the boy suffers every single day he lives under my roof. You won't be here to protect him, and your old man won't be able to stop me.”
Elias sat in the cold garage, the blue light of the laptop screen illuminating his weathered face. His eyes were hard, his tears long since dried.
May you like
He closed the laptop, slipped the flash drive into his vest pocket, and picked up his phone.
"Arthur," Elias said when the attorney answered. "I have the silver bullet."
