Chapter 6 - THE LOCKED OFFICE
At midnight, Matteo entered Evelyn’s office.
Emma’s brass key opened the bottom drawer of an antique desk.
Inside were folders.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Sophia’s name appeared repeatedly.
Matteo opened the first file.
Medical notes.
Absences.
Salary deductions.
Everything had been documented.
Evelyn had been creating a record that Sophia was becoming unreliable.
The next folder was worse.
It contained documents suggesting Sophia had stolen household money.
Matteo read the numbers twice.
Forged signatures.
False receipts.
Fabricated complaints.
Someone had been preparing to destroy Sophia’s reputation long before the poisoning began.
Then he found photographs.
Images of Sophia meeting Matteo years earlier.
Emma as an infant.
The housekeeper’s family.
And beneath them, one handwritten sentence:
“She knows too much.”
Matteo’s blood ran cold.
What could Sophia possibly know?
Behind him, the office door creaked.
He turned.
Evelyn stood in the doorway.
“You should have let the past remain buried,” she whispered.
May you like
Matteo stepped forward.
“Now you’re going to tell me what you buried.”
