Chapter 3 - THE ROOM BEHIND THE WALL
The Dre estate had been in the family for nearly a century.
It was enormous.
Forty-two rooms.
Three staircases.
A private library.
A conservatory.
A wine cellar.
And an abandoned west wing that Matthias claimed had been closed after water damage.
I had lived in that house for two years before we moved into our own home.
I had never entered the west wing.
The doors were always locked.
When I asked why, Matthias said the structure was unsafe.
Now I knew that explanation had been incomplete.
Evelyn told investigators that the west wing contained a concealed records room built during a renovation she supervised eleven years earlier.
The room had been designed to store architectural drawings and confidential property documents.
But after Evelyn discovered irregularities in the family's development projects, Conrad began using it for something else.
Financial records.
Environmental reports.
Internal correspondence.
And evidence of illegal disposal of industrial waste.
The Hensley acquisition involved land once occupied by a chemical processing facility.
According to Evelyn, the Dre family had concealed contamination reports to inflate the property's value.
If the truth emerged, the acquisition could collapse.
Investors could lose millions.
And the family could face criminal charges.
I stared at her.
“That's what this is about?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Money.”
I looked toward Matthias.
He stood several feet away, speaking urgently into his phone.
“Who sent the envelope?” I asked.
Evelyn hesitated.
“I don't know.”
“But you recognized the document.”
“Yes.”
“What was it?”
She looked toward the estate.
“A risk assessment.”
My stomach tightened.
“Collateral losses within acceptable parameters.”
Evelyn nodded.
“The phrase was used in a planning document discussing how to destroy the records without drawing attention to the family's involvement.”
I felt sick.
“During a Christmas party?”
“That's why I came.”
I stared at her.
“Someone was willing to hurt sixty people?”
May you like
Her expression hardened.
“Someone decided the documents mattered more than the people.”
