Chapter 5 - The Phone Call to the Abyss
Grandma turned to Richard Vance. Her posture was straight, her authority absolute.
"Richard, dial the Chief of Police," she ordered. "And call the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Financial fraud involving interstate wire transfers over one hundred thousand dollars is a federal offense."
"No! Mother, please!" Patricia screamed, scrambling to her feet, her hands reaching out in desperation. "You can't do this! If I go to prison, what happens to Victoria?! What happens to our home?!"
"You should have thought about your home before you stole Claire's," Grandma replied coldly.
Patricia looked around the room, frantically searching for an ally. Her eyes landed on her husband. "Howard! Do something! Say something! Tell her you helped me! Tell her it was for the family!"
Uncle Howard took two paces backward, his face red with sudden panic. "I didn't know anything about forged codicils, Patricia! You told me the money came from an early distribution of your inheritance! I had no idea you stole from Claire or Edward!"
"You coward!" Patricia yelled, lunging toward her husband, slapping his arm. "You spent the money! You drove the luxury cars! You drank the expensive wine!"
"Enough!" Grandma’s voice cut through the chaos like a lightning strike. She struck her cane against the hardwood floor with a deafening crack.
The room went dead silent.
Grandma turned her focus back to her phone, which she was still holding in her left hand.
"There is one more thing," Grandma said, staring intently at her screen. "Before I make the call to the authorities, I want to see the master safe inside this house."
Patricia stopped breathing. Her eyes widened in absolute, paralyzing horror. "What... what safe?"
"The floor safe hidden under the rug in Edward's old study upstairs," Grandma said quietly. "The safe you claimed you lost the combination to three years ago."
"There's nothing in there!" Patricia stammered, her voice dropping into a frantic whisper. "It's empty! I swear it's empty!"
Grandma didn't answer. She walked slowly toward the grand marble staircase, her silver cane tapping against each step. "Richard, Clara, Claire... follow me."
I stood up from the armchair, wrapping the wool blanket around Lily to keep her warm, and followed my grandmother up the stairs. Behind us, Patricia scrambled after us like a desperate ghost, dragging her feet, sobbing uncontrollably while Howard remained below, staring blankly at the floor.
When we reached the second-floor study—a large, wood-paneled room that smelled of old dust and stagnant air—Grandma walked directly to the heavy Persian rug in the center of the floor.
She kicked the corner of the rug back with her leather shoe, revealing a heavy, steel floor safe embedded in the hardwood floorboards.
"Patricia," Grandma said, turning her head slowly. "Open it."
"I don't have the code," Patricia wept, leaning against the doorframe. "I lost it!"
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Grandma looked at Richard Vance.
Richard stepped forward, pulled a sealed white envelope from his inner coat pocket, and opened it. "Your late husband gave me a duplicate copy of the combination six years ago, Margaret. He told me to keep it safe in the event of an emergency."
