Chapter 5 - Someone Was Watching Kayla
Gunther reached the estate before the fire spread beyond the master suite.
Mrs. Gable was gone.
The bed burned.
The nightstands burned.
The curtains Kayla had spent hours washing became black ribbons.
Firefighters contained the blaze.
Gunther stood outside watching smoke pour from his windows.
Kayla approached beside Sam.
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“Your room.”
“It’s furniture.”
She looked surprised.
The old Gunther would have considered the destruction a declaration of war.
Now he cared about one thing.
Mrs. Gable had targeted the room immediately after Anthony gave Kayla the key.
Something was hidden there.
They entered after the fire marshal cleared the floor.
The room was ruined.
Kayla examined the brass key.
Gunther searched the walls.
Sam noticed scratches beneath the built-in wardrobe.
They moved it.
Behind it was a steel compartment.
The key fit.
Inside were three ledgers and a cassette tape.
Kayla stared at the handwriting.
“My mother.”
She recognized it instantly.
The ledgers documented decades of payments.
Bribes.
Threats.
Illegal shipments.
But the last pages concerned something different.
A legitimate corporation.
Woods Maritime Holdings.
Gunther's father had secretly diverted shares.
Kayla's mother had discovered it.
And the beneficiary was Mrs. Gable.
“She wasn't a housekeeper,” Victor said.
Gunther turned pages.
“She was my father's partner.”
Kayla found an envelope addressed to her.
Her hands shook.
Inside was a letter.
Her mother had known she was in danger.
She had hidden evidence in the Woods estate because nobody would search the bedroom of the most paranoid man in the organization.
Then Kayla reached the final paragraph.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She handed it to Gunther.
He read.
If anything happens to me, protect Kayla and Samuel from Eleanor Gable. She knows what she did to Thomas Hughes.
Kayla stared.
“Thomas was my father.”
Gunther looked at her.
“You told me he left.”
“That's what Mom told us.”
Sam leaned forward.
“What did Gable do?”
Before anyone answered, Gunther's security chief entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found Mrs. Gable's car.”
“Where?”
“At Miss Hughes's apartment.”
Kayla went cold.
The security chief continued.
“The front door was open.”
Then he placed something on the table.
May you like
Kayla's apartment key.
It was covered in blood.
