Chapter 5 - The Walls Have Secrets
By nightfall, the house was completely dark and sweltering in the Texas heat.
Vanessa sat in her car across the street, watching Todd and Frank sweat on the front porch.
The private security team was stationed at the edge of the property line, preventing anyone from delivering food or water to the house.
David had filed the fraud paperwork with the FBI, moving the case out of the corrupt local judge's jurisdiction.
Vanessa's phone buzzed with a message from the private investigator she had hired that afternoon.
She opened the encrypted file and began reading the background check on Todd Grant.
The cryptocurrency story was a complete lie.
Todd was drowning in millions of dollars of debt owed to an illegal gambling syndicate in Las Vegas.
He had not just scammed Vanessa's mother into securing a loan; he was actively hiding from loan sharks.
But the most disturbing part of the report was an old newspaper clipping attached to the bottom.
It detailed an interview with Vanessa's late grandfather, the man who originally built the house fifty years ago.
In the interview, the old man boasted about building a hidden vault in the basement to store his rare coin collection.
Vanessa's eyes widened as the puzzle pieces finally snapped together perfectly.
Todd was not demolishing the kitchen to remodel it for Melissa.
He had found the old newspaper article and was tearing the house apart to find the hidden coin collection to pay off his gambling debts.
Vanessa grabbed a high-powered flashlight from her glove compartment.
She knew exactly where her grandfather had hidden the vault because he had shown her the secret latch when she was a little girl.
She stepped out of the car, blending into the dark shadows of the neighborhood.
She bypassed the security guards, slipping through a broken fence panel in the backyard.
She used her physical emergency key to unlock the heavy storm doors leading down to the basement.
The basement was pitch black, smelling of damp earth and old cardboard boxes.
Vanessa moved silently down the concrete steps, keeping her flashlight pointed toward the floor.
She reached the back wall, running her fingers over the dusty bricks until she felt the loose mortar.
She pressed the hidden mechanical lever, and a small section of the brick wall swung inward with a quiet click.
The heavy steel safe was still sitting there, completely untouched by Todd's frantic demolition upstairs.
Suddenly, the floorboards creaked violently above her head.
Heavy footsteps began stomping down the wooden basement stairs.
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Vanessa quickly turned off her flashlight and hid behind a stack of moving boxes, holding her breath.
Todd and Frank descended into the basement, holding a large crowbar and a red plastic gas can.
