Chapter 5 - THE BLUE PANEL
Vanessa’s mistake gave investigators the phrase they needed.
Blue panel.
The house had several.
Ethan restored old properties for a living, so he loved hiding modern systems behind architectural details.
Our basement utility room contained a blue-painted access panel behind the wine storage.
The detached garage had another.
There was even a narrow blue service door beneath the main staircase that covered the controls for the old central vacuum system.
Damian tried to recover immediately.
“She’s confused.”
Marcus looked at him.
“About what?”
Vanessa said nothing.
One of the officers secured the scattered documents while the second kept Damian away from me.
Marcus crouched beside me.
“Rachel, are you injured?”
“My wrist hurts.”
“Do you need an ambulance?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
I looked at the evidence bag.
“What is that?”
His eyes shifted toward Damian.
“Something Ethan arranged for me to collect.”
“From where?”
Damian interrupted.
“Don’t answer that.”
The officer turned.
“Mr. Whitmore, you need to stop directing this conversation.”
Damian’s face tightened.
I looked back at Marcus.
“What did you find?”
“Enough to justify securing the property and company records.”
“Is it from the blue panel?”
Marcus paused.
“No.”
Vanessa looked up.
That response frightened her more than anything.
Because if the evidence bag had come from somewhere else, whatever was behind the blue panel might still be waiting.
Damian suddenly said, “Rachel, you need an attorney.”
“I have one.”
“You don’t understand what’s happening.”
“I understand you threatened to kill me if I didn’t sign.”
He went silent.
The officer looked at him.
Vanessa stepped away.
I realized then that they had spent years relying on the family’s instinct to keep ugliness inside the family.
No police.
No outsiders.
No records.
No witnesses.
That instinct had ended.
Marcus asked whether I consented to a limited search of the house for material Ethan had identified as company property potentially connected to his investigation.
I said yes.
Damian objected.
The officer reminded him the house was mine to control pending estate review.
That sentence nearly caused another explosion.
“It is not hers.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Your brother’s will says otherwise.”
Damian’s face changed.
May you like
He had expected me not to know that yet.
So had I.
