Chapter 2: The Founder Records
The question hung in the air longer than it should have.
“Where is your grandmother now?””
I looked at Mr. Bennett, trying to understand why a simple question sounded like a warning.
“My grandmother is at home,” I finally said.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“At home?””
I nodded.
“She’s sick. She’s been sick for months.””
Mr. Bennett leaned back in his chair.
“And she knows you brought this book here?””
I hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
His expression changed.
“She didn’t want you to come, did she?””
I looked away.
“No.””
“Why?””
I rubbed my thumb against my sleeve.
“Because she told me never to show anyone the book.””
“Never?””
“Not unless I had no other choice.””
Mr. Bennett was silent.
The office felt smaller.
The walls covered with pictures of the bank’s history suddenly felt like they were watching me.
“Why did you break that rule?”” he asked.
I swallowed.
“Because she couldn’t afford her medicine anymore.””
The words came out sharper than I expected.
“She was trying to cut her pills in half so they would last longer.””
Mr. Bennett’s face softened.
“She did that?””
I nodded.
“She told me she was fine.””
I let out a quiet laugh that wasn’t really a laugh.
“My grandmother always says she’s fine. Even when she can barely walk to the kitchen.””
I looked down at the old savings book on his desk.
“I thought maybe there was money in the account. I thought maybe she had been saving it for emergencies.””
Mr. Bennett looked at the book.
Then at me.
“You were trying to save her.””
I didn’t answer.
Because saying yes made me feel like I had failed.
A knock interrupted us.
Ms. Carter entered carrying a large gray folder.
She placed it carefully on the desk.
“The founder records.””
Mr. Bennett immediately stood.
“Thank you.””
Ms. Carter didn’t leave.
She stared at the folder.
“I have a question.””
Mr. Bennett looked at her.
“What?””
“Why do those records matter?””
He didn’t answer.
She looked at me.
Then back at him.
“Mr. Bennett, I’ve worked here for twelve years. I know the founder story. Everyone does.””
Her voice lowered.
“Eleanor Brooks built this bank from nothing. She disappeared after the expansion project. The official reports say she passed away.””
She pointed at the folder.
“So why does a seventeen-year-old girl walking in with an old savings book suddenly make you open documents that have been locked away for decades?””
The room went quiet.
Mr. Bennett slowly opened the folder.
“Because the official story has always bothered me.””
Ms. Carter frowned.
“What do you mean?””
He pulled out a yellowed document.
“The night Eleanor Brooks disappeared, there was a meeting.””
He placed the paper on the desk.
“A private meeting.””
I stepped closer.
“Who was there?””
Mr. Bennett looked at the names.
“Executives. Lawyers. Investors.””
He paused.
“And my father.””
I looked at him.
“Your father?””
He nodded.
“My father was the bank’s vice president at the time.””
Ms. Carter crossed her arms.
“You never mentioned that.””
“Because there was nothing to mention.””
His fingers tightened around the document.
“Or at least that’s what I was told.””
The office became silent again.
I stared at the papers.
“What does this have to do with my grandmother?””
Mr. Bennett opened another page.
A photograph slipped out.
He picked it up.
The picture was old and faded.
It showed the inside of the original bank building.
A woman stood behind a counter.
Young.
Smiling.
Holding a savings book.
My breath stopped.
“She looks exactly like her,” I whispered.
Mr. Bennett nodded.
“Eleanor Brooks.””
I shook my head.
“No.””
He looked at me.
“Maya.””
“That’s my grandmother.””
The words surprised even me.
I had never seen that picture before.
But somehow, I knew.
The shape of her face.
The way she stood.
The small smile she made when she knew something nobody else knew.
It was her.
Mr. Bennett slowly sat down.
“Then your grandmother has been hiding something from you.””
A painful feeling settled in my chest.
I didn’t want to believe that.
My grandmother was the person who raised me.
The person who stayed when everyone else left.
The person who made sure I ate before she did.
“She wouldn’t lie to me,” I said.
Mr. Bennett looked at me carefully.
“Sometimes people hide the truth because they’re protecting someone.””
“Protecting me from what?””
He didn’t answer.
That scared me more than anything.
Ms. Carter opened the folder wider.
“Mr. Bennett.””
He turned.
She pointed at a document.
“You need to see this.””
He walked around the desk.
I followed.
The page looked like a financial report.
At the bottom was a signature.
The same signature.
Eleanor Brooks.
But next to it was something strange.
A handwritten note.
Mr. Bennett read it silently.
His face changed.
“What does it say?”” I asked.
He didn’t respond.
“Mr. Bennett?””
He finally looked up.
“It says the founder’s account should remain untouched until her granddaughter returns.””
My heart skipped.
“My granddaughter?””
He nodded slowly.
“Those are the exact words.””
Ms. Carter looked confused.
“How could she have known?””
Nobody answered.
Because the question had no easy answer.
I stared at the page.
“My grandmother never told me about this.””
Mr. Bennett turned another page.
“There’s more.””
He pulled out a sealed envelope.
The paper was old.
The edges were worn.
My name was written across the front.
I froze.
“Maya.””
My voice barely came out.
“That says my name.””
Mr. Bennett stared at the envelope.
“Yes.””
“How?””
He didn’t move.
“I don’t know.””
The room felt like it was spinning.
That envelope had been sitting in the bank for years.
Maybe decades.
Waiting for me.
“Open it,” I whispered.
Mr. Bennett looked at me.
“I can’t.””
“Why?””
“Because it was sealed by Eleanor Brooks.””
I frowned.
“And?””
“And according to the instructions attached to it…”
He paused.
“It can only be opened in front of the person named on the envelope.””
My hands started shaking.
“You’re saying that’s me?””
“Yes.””
Ms. Carter stepped back.
“This is impossible.””
Mr. Bennett carefully placed the envelope on the desk.
“Maya, before we open this, I need you to understand something.””
“What?””
“The last person who searched for answers about Eleanor Brooks disappeared.””
The words made my blood run cold.
“Who?””
Mr. Bennett looked toward the old photograph on the wall.
“My father.””
Silence.
“He spent years trying to find out what happened the night Eleanor vanished.””
He looked at the envelope.
“Three days before he died, he told me something.””
“What?””
Mr. Bennett’s voice dropped.
“He said the bank was built on a secret.””
I stared at him.
“What secret?””
Before he could answer, the lights in the office flickered.
Everyone stopped.
The bright lobby outside suddenly went quiet.
Ms. Carter looked toward the door.
“Did we lose power?””
“No,” Mr. Bennett said.
He was staring at the folder.
At the documents.
At the envelope.
Because something else had changed.
The old savings book on the desk had opened by itself.
A page that had been stuck together for years had separated.
Mr. Bennett slowly walked closer.
His face turned pale.
“What?””
I stepped forward.
“What did you see?””
He didn’t answer.
He just pointed.
At a hidden message written beneath the original account information.
A message nobody had noticed before.
Three words.
Three words that made Mr. Bennett step away from the desk.
Because they weren’t written by Eleanor Brooks.
They were written by someone else.
Someone who knew I would eventually find this book.
Mr. Bennett whispered:
“Maya…”
I looked at him.
“Who wrote that?””
He stared at the handwriting.
Then at the date beside it.
A date from seventeen years ago.
The year I was born.
His voice almost disappeared.
“Your grandmother wasn’t hiding this account from the world.””
He looked at me.
“She was hiding it from someone.””
I felt a chill move through me.
“Who?””
Mr. Bennett reached for the hidden page.
But before his fingers touched it, the office phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Nobody moved.
Finally, Mr. Bennett picked it up.
“Bennett speaking.””
The person on the other end said something.
His expression changed immediately.
“Where?””
A pause.
Then his eyes moved to me.
“No.””
Another pause.
“That’s impossible.””
My heart started racing.
“Mr. Bennett, what happened?””
He slowly lowered the phone.
The color had disappeared from his face.
“Maya…”
I stood frozen.
“What?””
He looked toward the front entrance of the bank.
“The hospital just called.””
My stomach dropped.
“What hospital?””
He swallowed.
“The one where your grandmother was supposed to be.””
A cold silence filled the room.
“Supposed to be?””
Mr. Bennett looked at the old savings book.
Then at the envelope with my name on it.
“She’s not there.””
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
“What do you mean?””
His eyes locked onto mine.
“The hospital says your grandmother was never admitted.””
The room went completely still.
Then he said the words that made everything I thought I knew begin to break apart.
“Maya… according to their records, your grandmother disappeared three days ago.””
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