“Why was the study locked up this morning, Patrick?” I asked.

I stood near the edge of the rug, gripping the silver locket tightly between my thumb and forefinger.

Patrick paused with his hand still resting on the hall table.

“There are proprietary documents in that room,” he said.

“Chloe Vance told me you were transferring local real estate titles today,” I said.

Patrick drew his shoulders back and turned slowly around to face me.

“Chloe works for Sterling Capital,” he said.