Evelyn recognized Andrew's handwriting immediately.
Her fingers trembled as Rebecca unfolded the note.
It contained only three sentences.
If anything happens to me, keep Lily safe. Don't trust Victor with the family records. The key opens what I couldn't bring home.
Evelyn stared at the paper.
Andrew had died fourteen months earlier.
For more than a year, she had believed his death was a tragic accident without any connection to the company's financial troubles.
Now she was holding a message suggesting he had feared Victor before he died.
Rebecca photographed the note and arranged for the original to be preserved.
"We need to establish when this was written," she cautioned. "And we shouldn't assume Andrew predicted his death."
Evelyn nodded, although she was visibly shaken.
Sarah remembered the little girl's insistence on protecting her handbag.
"Did Lily know what was inside?"
Lily shook her head.
"Daddy said I shouldn't open the secret part unless Mommy needed help."
Evelyn knelt beside her daughter.
"Why didn't you tell me before, sweetheart?"
Lily's eyes filled.
"I forgot. Then I remembered when the scary man came."
Evelyn pulled her close.
"You didn't do anything wrong."
Rebecca examined the number attached to the key.
It matched the format used by a private document storage company with facilities throughout Pennsylvania.
She contacted the company and learned that the number corresponded to a secure storage box registered in Andrew Whitmore's name.
Access would require appropriate legal documentation.
While Rebecca arranged that process, Officer Brooks received an update about the evacuation alarm.
The building's security cameras showed a maintenance contractor entering a restricted corridor minutes before the alarm sounded.
The contractor had signed in using a temporary authorization issued through one of the companies Victor controlled.
That did not establish why the alarm was triggered, but it gave investigators an important lead.
Sarah watched Evelyn absorb the information.
The wealthy woman seemed increasingly frightened, yet determined to understand what had happened.
"Why would Andrew hide a key in Lily's bag?" Sarah asked.
Rebecca considered the question.
"Perhaps because he believed it was the last place anyone would search."
Evelyn touched her daughter's hair.
"Or because he knew she would never let anyone take it."
At that moment, Rebecca's assistant entered with an urgent message.
A representative from Victor Langley's legal team had filed an emergency request seeking temporary restrictions on Evelyn's access to certain company records.
And the filing claimed that Evelyn had deliberately concealed documents belonging to her husband's estate.