Chapter 10 - The Drawer Beneath the DeskNatalie returned to the mansion the following morning.
This time, she was accompanied by Miriam and a property restoration specialist who had been cleared to enter the remaining rooms.
The police had released David's old study after documenting it.
Bradley's separate study remained part of the investigation.
David's antique writing desk stood beneath a tall window overlooking the garden.
Natalie had kept it exactly as he left it.
A fountain pen rested beside a brass clock.
His favorite green reading lamp still worked.
For years, she had avoided sitting there.
The desk made his absence feel too permanent.
Now she pulled out the chair.
Miriam stood beside her.
“Grace said the compartment was beneath the right-hand panel?”
“Yes.”
Natalie ran her fingers along the wood.
There was a narrow brass keyhole concealed under a sliding decorative strip.
She tried to move the panel.
It would not open.
“The key is missing,” Miriam said.
Natalie shook her head.
“We haven't looked everywhere.”
She opened the ordinary drawers.
Old envelopes.
Blank stationery.
A faded photograph.
A small collection of foreign coins David had brought home from business trips.
Nothing.
Then Natalie noticed a familiar yellow ribbon tucked beneath the writing blotter.
She lifted it.
Attached was a note in David's handwriting.
For the brightest little star.
It was the ribbon from the brass key in the Christmas photograph.
But the key itself was gone.
Natalie stared at the empty loop.
“Bradley found it.”
Miriam examined the ribbon without touching it.
“Possibly. We should document this and tell Detective Price.”
Natalie took a photograph.
Then she sat back.
She could almost hear David laughing.
He had always loved puzzles.
When they were dating, he once hid an engagement-ring box behind six envelopes containing riddles.
Natalie had called him ridiculous.
He had kissed her and replied, “You'll miss my ridiculousness when I'm old.”
He never became old.
The memory hurt so sharply that Natalie pressed her palm against the desk.
Then she noticed something scratched into the wooden edge.
Three tiny suns.
One large.
Two small.
They were not part of the desk's original decoration.
David had carved them.
Natalie moved the lamp closer.
Beneath the third sun was a small indentation.
She pressed it.
A narrow wooden catch released.
The decorative strip shifted.
Miriam leaned forward.
“There's a second mechanism.”
Natalie looked at her.
“David.”
For the first time in days, she smiled through tears.
The hidden drawer opened only a few inches.
Inside lay a sealed plastic envelope.
Natalie removed it carefully.
It contained several folded sheets and a small USB drive.
The top page bore David's handwriting.
If the blue ledger is missing, begin with these invoice references.
Beneath the heading were dozens of numbers.
Some had been circled in red.
Others were marked with the same golden sun symbol that appeared on the notebook.
Natalie recognized the company names from Oliver's spreadsheets.
Subcontractors.
Inspection firms.
Engineering consultants.
One entry stood out.
Millhaven Phase II — drainage reinforcement — $680,000.
Next to it, David had written:
No matching material delivery records.
A second entry was marked:
Inspection subcontract — $310,000.
Beside it:
Engineer denies approval.
Natalie felt a strange mixture of fear and relief.
David had preserved more than suspicions.
He had left a trail that could be independently checked.
Miriam reached for her phone.
“We need to preserve the originals and contact the detective.”
Natalie nodded.
She did not insert the USB drive into her computer.
She had learned enough about evidence to understand that an unexamined device could contain information requiring proper handling.
Instead, Miriam photographed the envelope as found, and Natalie left everything together for secure collection.
Before they departed, Natalie visited the upstairs hallway.
The carpet had been removed, exposing pale wooden flooring.
She could still see a darker line where water had crossed the threshold.
The mark ran directly from the bathroom toward Bradley's study.
Something about the direction bothered her.
The bathroom floor sloped slightly toward the hallway.
Bradley had once complained that the house was badly designed.
But David had carefully renovated the building.
He understood drainage better than almost anyone Natalie had known.
She remembered him insisting that every wet room needed functioning safeguards.
Why had the bathtub overflowed so severely?
Was it simple negligence?
Or had something been altered?
She sent Detective Price a message asking whether the plumbing had been examined.
The detective replied that a specialist was reviewing the scene.
Natalie stood beside the bathroom doorway.
For the first time, she noticed the removable access panel near the tub.
One corner was slightly raised.
She did not touch it.
Instead, she took a photograph and sent it to the detective.
That evening, Detective Price called.
The specialist had found that the bathtub's drain had been plugged and the overflow pathway obstructed.
The faucet itself was functioning normally.
“So someone caused the overflow?” Natalie asked.
“The conditions are consistent with deliberate obstruction,” the detective replied. “We're still determining when and by whom.”
Natalie sat very still.
“Why would Bradley flood his own bathroom?”
“We don't know.”
Natalie's mind raced.
A violent outburst might explain a sudden splash.
It did not explain a deliberately obstructed overflow.
Not by itself.
The detective continued.
“We've also confirmed that Bradley's consulting company received regular payments from a Pike-controlled business.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
“How much?”
“The records we've reviewed show monthly transfers, but we're still obtaining the complete financial history.”
“Did he tell you what the payments were for?”
“His attorney hasn't provided a detailed explanation.”
Natalie looked toward the photograph of David on June's bookshelf.
The danger had begun long before Emily entered Bradley's study.
Long before the bathtub.
Possibly before Bradley and Natalie ever met.
Then Detective Price added one final detail.
“The USB drive from David's desk contains files dated before his death. We're arranging a forensic review.”
“Is anything important on it?”
“We've only begun examining it.”
She paused.
“But one folder is labeled with a name we've already encountered.”
Natalie waited.
“Robert Vale.”
Her father.
May you like
The man whose debts Warren had allegedly paid.
And the man whose signature appeared on a project that had killed two people.
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