They Left Their Son Inside the Burning Mansion

CHAPTER 3 - The Will Robert Hid

Margaret Sloan arrived shortly after midnight.

She was sixty-eight and had served as Robert's attorney for more than thirty years. Eleanor dismissed her after Robert's death and claimed she was too old to manage the family estate.

Margaret ignored Eleanor and went directly to Henry.

"Your grandfather told me you might need my help one day."

Henry handed her the brass key.

Robert was not Henry's biological father, but he had raised him from birth. He discovered Eleanor's relationship with Arthur shortly before Henry turned five.

Instead of rejecting the child, Robert changed his will to protect him.

The brass key opened a document box inside a private bank vault.

Margaret, the police, and an independent trustee examined its contents.

The box held Robert's original will, financial records, and a letter addressed to Henry.

The will gave Henry fifty-one percent of the Whitmore Hotel Group when he turned eighteen. Until then, an independent board would manage his shares and pay for his medical care.

If Henry died before turning eighteen, control of the shares would return to Eleanor.

The financial records revealed that Eleanor and Arthur had stolen more than eight million dollars from Henry's medical trust. They also took money from the retirement accounts of hotel employees.

An independent audit was scheduled to begin in three days.

Eleanor needed Henry dead before the missing money was discovered.

The fire would destroy the mansion's financial office, eliminate the child who controlled the shares, and create an insurance payment large enough to cover part of the theft.

Investigators found that fuel had been poured through the east corridor.

The mansion's security system had been disabled using Arthur's private code.

Clara's staff card had been used to purchase the fuel.

"She set the fire," Eleanor declared. "She wanted to kidnap Henry after rescuing him."

Clara was questioned for hours.

Then Margaret found another document in Robert's box.

Robert had hired a private investigator shortly before his death. The investigator photographed Eleanor and Arthur transferring money into foreign accounts.

One photograph showed Arthur purchasing the same fuel used in the fire.

Another showed Eleanor meeting with the insurance assessor two weeks earlier.

Arthur began to panic.

He offered to testify against Eleanor if the police protected him.

Eleanor looked at him with disgust.

"You were the one who locked your son in that corridor."

Arthur lowered his head.

"And you were the one who told me not to unlock it."

Before either could be arrested, a nurse entered Henry's room.

His bed was empty.

The wheelchair beside it had also disappeared.

A service elevator was moving toward the underground parking area.

Someone had taken Henry before he could give the police his full statement.