Chapter 3 - ITEM SEVEN
They did not take Mason's toy away from him.
Rocco insisted on that.
So did Helen.
Adults could photograph it while Mason held it.
They could wait to inspect the base until he was asleep.
A four-year-old did not need grown-ups turning his birthday gift into evidence while he watched.
Victoria seemed surprised Rocco said that.
He noticed.
Did not comment.
Elliot had been changed into dry clothes from an emergency bag Margaret kept for visiting children.
He sat curled against Rocco on a sofa in the library, rabbit wrapped in a clean towel.
The punch stain would probably come out.
Probably.
At three, probably was not comforting.
“Mommy rabbit okay?”
Rocco kissed his hair.
“We're going to fix her.”
Elliot nodded solemnly.
“Okay.”
Then:
“Mason didn't do it.”
Rocco looked down.
“No.”
“He dropped the man.”
“The drummer?”
Elliot nodded.
“I was giving it.”
“I know.”
Rocco did not ask him to repeat the story.
He had seen it.
That was enough.
Across the hall, Northbridge began the inventory.
The 1912 Legrand drummer had been part of a twelve-piece mechanical-toy collection assembled by Preston and Elena's grandmother.
The family called it the nursery collection.
Most pieces were valuable.
Not museum-masterpiece valuable.
Still enough to tempt stupid decisions.
The drummer's last formal appraisal before Elena's death:
$74,000.
Trust records showed it sold nine months later to Harbor Lane Antiques for $68,500.
Sale proceeds supposedly deposited into the residence operating account.
Victoria said she bought it back two months ago.
“From who?”
Leo asked.
“A dealer.”
“Which?”
“I don't remember.”
“You spent that much and don't remember?”
“I didn't say what I paid.”
Preston looked at her.
“How much did you pay?”
Victoria's expression tightened.
“Fourteen.”
“Thousand?”
“Yes.”
Leo looked at the toy.
“If that is the original, you did very well.”
Victoria snapped:
“Maybe it's not.”
That was exactly why they were checking.
At ten-fifteen, after Mason went upstairs with a nanny and a replacement toy, Leo inspected the drummer.
He used cotton gloves.
Photographs first.
No prying.
No dramatic hidden compartment.
The base had an old brass maker's plate.
Serial:
Leo frowned.
“What?”
Rocco asked.
“The trust inventory lists serial 3917.”
Preston exhaled.
“So it isn't the original.”
Leo did not agree.
He rotated the figure.
One drumstick had a tiny solder repair.
A crescent-shaped mark at the left wrist.
The 2018 insurance photographs showed the exact same repairs.
“This is the photographed toy.”
Victoria looked angry now.
“Then the old inventory had the number wrong.”
“Possible.”
Leo removed nothing.
He checked the screws.
“Recent work.”
“How recent?”
“Few years. Maybe less.”
Rocco asked:
“Can you tell whether the plate was replaced?”
“Not without opening it.”
Helen stopped him.
“Tomorrow.”
Good.
Nobody needed midnight antique surgery.
Then Daniel Cross brought in the sale ledger.
Harbor Lane Antiques.
Purchaser of three Hale nursery pieces.
The drummer.
A music box.
A miniature steam carriage.
All supposedly removed from Aldercrest.
All supposedly sold.
Margaret quietly said:
“The music box is upstairs.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What?”
Preston said.
“In the west nursery.”
“That isn't possible.”
Margaret's expression did not change.
“I dusted it Wednesday.”
Leo opened the inventory.
Two items listed as sold were still physically inside the mansion.
The third—the steam carriage—was missing.
Helen asked Preston:
“Where did the sale proceeds go?”
“Residence expenses.”
“Do you have supporting records?”
“Yes.”
“How did sold property remain here?”
“I don't know.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“They could have been repurchased.”
“By whom?”
No answer.
Rocco looked at the drummer.
Then at Preston.
Maybe the collection had been used for fake sales.
Maybe records were simply terrible.
Maybe someone had sold items on paper and bought them back.
Nothing proved theft yet.
Then Margaret spoke.
“Elena knew.”
Rocco turned.
Margaret looked at him.
“Two weeks before she died, she asked me whether the drummer was still in the nursery.”
Rocco stared.
“Why?”
Margaret hesitated.
“She said Preston had started talking about selling the children's collection.”
Preston snapped:
“She authorized asset sales.”
Margaret nodded.
“Yes.”
That stopped everyone.
Elena had not simply been robbed after death.
May you like
She had authorized something while alive.
The question was what.
