“I want to know when I can close that wall,” I said.
Calder nodded.
“That’s a reasonable question.”
Chapter 12: Leah’s Letter
Leah came to my house the following afternoon with a lawyer named Priya Shah.
She had heard about the cabinet and wanted to discuss the letter her mother had hidden.
Priya made it clear that Leah intended to cooperate without surrendering the only original she possessed.
The letter had arrived six years earlier in a plain envelope with an Asheville postmark.
It was addressed to Iris, but Leah found it after a burst pipe damaged the attic boxes.
Mara wrote about a warehouse inventory and a discrepancy between materials that arrived at Henley and materials recorded as shipped away.
She alleged that a contractor had been paid for disposal work that had not been completed as reported.
The letter did not conclusively establish where the materials went.
It did identify dates, transport numbers, and the first names of two men who handled the loads.
One name was Arthur.
The other was Martin.
Leah had spent months wondering why her mother guarded a letter that could be relevant to an old disappearance.
“I asked her whether Mara was still alive,” Leah said.
“She told me she didn’t know.”
“Do you believe her now?” I asked.
Leah took a careful breath.
“I believe she was frightened.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
Priya explained that Leah planned to give a verified copy to Calder while her attorney documented the chain of custody.
I appreciated the caution.
Evidence could lose its value if everyone treated it as an object to pass around for dramatic effect.
After Priya left, Leah remained beside the dining room window.
She touched the patch where Iris had hidden the film.
“My mother used to tell me Margaret was the only adult who never lied to her,” Leah said.
“She must have been a remarkable teacher.”
“She was also very stubborn.”
Leah smiled for the first time.
“She made me rewrite an apology letter when I was nine because I had blamed another child for my mistake.”
“Did you rewrite it?”
“Three times.”
Leah looked toward the basement.
“I wonder what she’d say about my mother now.”
I thought of Margaret’s handwriting on the cabinet.
“She might tell her to stop hiding behind the things she was afraid of.”
Leah did not answer immediately.
“That’s what I want too.”
Chapter 13: A Man Who Owned Nothing
Arthur Vale had built a reputation in the county as a consultant who could navigate permits, contracts, and distressed properties.
