Chapter 16 - The Vault Beneath the Estate|
The vault was hidden behind a stone wall beneath the oldest section of Castell Verde.
It had been built before the mansion existed, when the property was a fortified residence belonging to the original Donna council.
Gabriel located the entrance using a map found in their mother's journal.
The door had no handle.
Only a narrow slot shaped like the dark stone in the Donna necklace.
Vivien stared at it.
"The necklace is the key."
Margaret nodded.
"It was designed that way."
Seline, standing several feet behind them, looked uncomfortable.
"The necklace is still with the council."
Vivien turned toward her.
"No. The council returned it to me this morning."
She removed the necklace from its protective case and placed the central stone against the slot.
A mechanism clicked.
The steel door opened.
Inside were shelves of ledgers, sealed envelopes, and boxes marked with dates stretching back more than a century.
At the center stood a wooden table.
On it lay a document bearing seven signatures.
Vivien recognized her father's.
She recognized Damian's father's.
And she recognized the signature of Thomas Bell's grandfather.
The document described the original succession agreement. It stated that no single family could own the Donna authority, and that the necklace must pass to a custodian chosen by the council.
But a second document had been placed beneath it.
This one contained a list of payments made shortly before Vivien's father's death.
One payment had gone to a private investigator.
Another to a medical examiner.
The final payment had been made to a company controlled by Helena Vale.
Gabriel stared at the page.
"She was involved."
Margaret shook her head.
"Not necessarily. The account could have been used without her knowledge."
Vivien turned another page.
A handwritten confession was attached to the back.
It was signed by Thomas Bell's grandfather.
The confession stated that he had falsified the original succession records at the request of an unnamed council member.
He had also arranged the disappearance of a witness.
The witness's name was listed at the bottom.
Helena Vale.
The room fell silent.
Seline looked sick.
"Thomas knew."
"Yes," Vivien replied. "He knew the truth about his family, and he used it to manipulate you."
Gabriel continued searching.
Behind the ledgers, he discovered a small metal box containing an old cassette recorder and a stack of photographs.
The first photograph showed Vivien's father entering the estate on the night he died.
The second showed him arguing with a man in the library.
The third showed that same man leaving the building carrying a briefcase.
The man was not Thomas Bell.
It was Damian's father.
Vivien stared at the photograph.
Damian's father had died five years earlier, supposedly of natural causes.
Yet the photograph showed him leaving the estate hours after Vivien's father was last seen alive.
Gabriel picked up the recorder.
A label had been attached to it.
For the next Donna.
Vivien pressed play.
Her father's voice filled the vault.
"If this recording has been found, then the person who ordered my death has already taken control of the council."
A pause followed.
May you like
Then he spoke again.
"And the person responsible is someone my daughter will one day call family."
