The locksmith had the box open in under one minute. A drill bit on a cordless drill through the keyhole did it. So, by drilling the lock, they actually meant drilling the lock. Why on earth did we need a locksmith for that? Val thought.

“Will that be all?” the locksmith asked.

JT looked at both Gavin and Warren, waiting for an answer.

“Yes, that will be it,” Warren said.

He packed up his drill and he moved towards the door. JT followed him. “Once a box is open we leave the owner alone with the contents. You have a warrant and I’m not sure if I need to, or should, be here,” JT said.

“We’ll call you when we’re done, then,” Warren said.

As soon as JT was out of the door, Gavin slid the lid off the box and began pulling out contents, all of which were documents. He placed everything on the countertop. “Let’s go through the items one by one.” First was a photocopy of multiple pieces of paper put together.

“What is that?” Val asked.

“Looks like partial receipts for the sale of GDA Pharmaceutical stock,” Gavin said.

“GDA Pharmaceutical?” This was the company Gabrielle’s first husband was CEO of. A company that went bankrupt due to a drug scandal. “That stock must have been practically worthless.”

“Yes, it was but that wasn’t such a bad thing for the person who owned this stock.” Gavin shook his head and smirked. “Son of a bitch.”

“Who would want worthless stock?” Val asked.

Gavin dropped the documents down. “These are receipts from a short sell.”

“What’s that?” Val asked.

“Most investors buy stocks hoping they’ll increase in value. Short selling is how you make money when the prices are falling.”

“I’m listening.”

“It’s actually a pretty simple concept. An investor borrows shares of stock from someone who owns it and then arranges a date in the future when the shares will be returned. The borrower sells the borrowed shares and pockets any profits. Then at the later designated date, buys the stock back to return to the lender. The hope is that the price falls for the buy back. It looks like 500,000 shares of GDA stock were borrowed and sold at $200 a share. That’s $100 million. Once the stock plummeted, it was rebought for $15 a share and the 500,000 shares returned to the owner. That cost $7.5 million. The profit was $92.5 million.”

Val was stunned by the staggering amount made from this. “Gabrielle made a lot of money from her husband’s death? I thought her father said she was poor.”

“Not Gabrielle. These aren’t her receipts. There’s a name for a corporation but it seems to be an alias. Looks like Gabrielle was trying to find out who’s behind it.” Gavin picked the papers back up again. “Look at the notes in the margin.”