Chapter 1 - The Vault of SecretsGregory’s screen reflected the harsh white light of his desk lamp, illuminating the sudden shift in his posture. He clicked twice, tapped his keyboard with deliberate slowness, and then slid the monitor half an inch toward his side, shielding the fine print with his palm.
‘Miss Vance,’ Gregory began, his voice dropping an octave into that practiced register professionals use right before delivering bad news. ‘There is a complication regarding the paperwork history of Box 412.’
My stomach plummeted. ‘Complication? What kind of complication? I have her death certificate right here, and—’
‘Not your grandmother’s paperwork,’ Gregory interrupted gently. He lifted his hand to reveal a single, stark data line on the screen. ‘The box was indeed opened by Shirley Vance twelve years ago on the exact date you remember. However, its access permissions were modified thirty-six hours after your grandmother’s funeral.’
The room seemed to shrink. My breathing hitched. ‘Modified? By whom? Brenda?’
‘No,’ Gregory said, checking the digital signature log. ‘By a legal proxy using an emergency probate rider. The name on the access authorization is Attorney Julian Vance. Your uncle’s son.’
Julian. The quiet cousin who had sat staring into his coffee cup during Aunt Brenda’s power play, looking entirely detached from the chaos. While Brenda played the loud, aggressive general storming the gates with neon pink price stickers, Julian had been operating the back door.
‘Can they empty it?’ I demanded, panic surging past my exhaustion. ‘Can they destroy what’s inside?’
Gregory leaned back, crossing his arms. ‘Legally, if an emergency rider was filed without a certified will on record, they have a seventy-two-hour window to inventory contents under state oversight. That window closes tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM.’
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I looked at the clock on his wall. It was 10:45 AM.
That left less than twenty-four hours before Julian and Brenda legally sanitized Grandma Shirley’s final wishes out of existence forever.
