Chapter 4 - The Hidden Safe
Eli backed away from the rattling kitchen door, picking up a heavy cast-iron skillet from the stove.
"Aunt Susan, go away!" Eli yelled.
"Eli, listen to me!" Susan’s voice was hysterical now, accompanied by the sound of furious scraping against the wood. "Vincent has lost his mind! He isn't going to let any of us leave this house! He brought a gun in his briefcase!"
Arthur’s eyes went wide with sheer horror. "The gun..." he gasped, trying to stand up from the chair. "Marcus..."
"Grandpa, stay down!" Eli urged, holding the skillet tight.
On the other side of the door, Susan kept screaming. "Vincent knows if the police come, he’s going to prison for twenty years! He’s going to set fire to the mansion and claim it was a gas leak! You have to open the door and get the master key from the floor safe!"
Arthur grabbed Eli’s arm, pulling him down to ear level. "The floor safe... in the pantry, Eli. Beneath the flour sacks."
Eli sprinted into the walk-in pantry, kicking aside heavy forty-pound bags of flour until his fingers brushed against a cold steel handle on the floorboards. He pulled back the rug, revealing a heavy digital keypad safe built directly into the foundation.
"What's the combination, Grandpa?!" Eli shouted back.
"Your birthday!" Arthur called out, his voice raspy. "11-0-4!"
Eli punched the numbers into the lit keypad: 1 - 1 - 0 - 4.
The lock clicked open with a heavy pneumatic pop. Eli yanked the steel door open.
Inside sat three black leather ledgers, a dozen USB flash drives, a thick stack of bearer bonds, and a heavy, dark-blue velvet box.
"Bring the ledgers!" Arthur instructed as Eli ran back into the main kitchen area. "Those are the real accounting books... the ones showing where Vincent moved the pension money. He doesn't know they exist!"
Suddenly, a loud gunshot exploded through the house.
The sound echoed through the halls, followed by a terrifying, dead silence.
"Marcus!" Arthur screamed, his voice breaking.
Eli felt his blood turn to ice. He ran to the kitchen door and peeked through the small brass keyhole.
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In the hallway outside, Susan was slumping against the wall, clutching her shoulder, bleeding. Standing five feet away was Vincent, holding a dark blue revolver, his face twisted into an unhinged, violent scowl.
And lying motionless on the marble floor near the grand staircase was Eli’s father, Marcus.
