CHAPTER 5 ā The Notebook Nobody Was Supposed to Find
That evening...
Federal investigators searched Evelyn Grant's office.
Most of the computers had already been wiped clean.
The filing cabinets were empty.
Even the security cameras had been erased.
It looked perfect.
Too perfect.
An investigator noticed something strange.
One bookshelf was slightly crooked.
When he pulled it forward...
A hidden safe appeared behind the wall.
Inside were stacks of contracts.
Offshore bank records.
Luxury property deeds.
And one old leather notebook.
Its cover simply read:
JANE.
Robert's hands trembled as he opened it.
Inside were Jane's original outlines.
Character sketches.
Ending ideas.
Dialogue written years before Cassandra's books were published.
There were coffee stains.
Smudged fingerprints.
Tiny notes scribbled in blue ink.
Proof that these stories had existed long before anyone had heard Cassandra's name.
But something else caught Robert's eye.
The last pages were missing.
Torn out.
The investigator counted carefully.
"Twenty-seven pages."
Robert frowned.
"Where are they?"
At that exact moment...
Cassandra's attorney received a phone call.
His face lost all color.
He whispered into Cassandra's ear.
She nearly collapsed.
"What happened?"
"The FBI just searched your penthouse."
"And?"
"They found twenty-seven handwritten pages."
The exact pages missing from Jane's notebook.
Hidden inside a climate-controlled safe behind a painting.
The prosecutor smiled.
"So you kept souvenirs."
Cassandra burst into tears.
"I never wanted this!"
The courtroom froze.
Robert looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
She sobbed uncontrollably.
"I wanted success..."
"I never thought it would go this far."
Then she revealed the truth.
"The first book..."
"I didn't even read it."
"Evelyn handed me everything."
"She said all I had to do was smile."
The reporters couldn't write fast enough.
May you like
America's greatest literary icon...
Had just admitted she wasn't a writer.
