Annabelle Hamilton, the new wife of Evan Hamilton, was hapily married to the love of her life.
She was a pretty southern belle from a small cattle ranch in Texas who married for true love and her husband was a handsome and eccentric millionaire from old oil money with a fascination of race cars. They lived in a nice house with a large garden of all kinds for her and a warehouse-sized garage for him. She had a silly golden retriever and he had a loyal yellow lab.
Everything was perfect... [[except for one little thing...]]No one outside the family knew that the painting was worth anything! It was kept a secret for an extra layer of protection, started by the late Mr. Hamilton.
Annabelle's new in-laws consisted of her [[parents in-law]], her [[brothers and sisters in-laws]], and her [[grandmother in-law]], all of which she wasn't convinced could have taken the painting.
So, Annabelle had to wonder, if the maid didn't steal the painting, who out of the Hamilton's would have had the [[motive and skill]] to pull it off without anyone noticing? Edward Hamilton was Evan's father. He was quite, observant, ruthless... he was a lawyer for a top firm, mostly dealing with cases from other wealthy business men and friends from the country club.
Susan Hamilton was Evan's mother. She was organzied and strict, running a perfect and smoothly running household as well as running multiple charities with her fellow wives from the country club.
[[suspects]]Cal Hamilton was Evan's oldest brother. He followed in his father's footsteps and became a lawyer, but was the exact opposite: fun, open, caring. He was a family lawyer and took as many pro bono cases as he could.
Jennifer Summers-Hamilton was Cal's wife. Shy and smart, she was a top pediatrician.
Ryan Hamilton was Evan's twin brother. Just like his twin, he loved cars. He was also a genius and worked on making race cars as safe as possible when he wasn't spending time with his partner in crime and fiance.
Lana Smith was Ryan's fiance (and partner in crime). Mischievous and outgoing, she was a mechanic who was practically raised on the track by her older brother, a famous race car driver.
Blair Hamilton was Evan's sister. Bossy, sneaky, and the youngest Hamilton, she always got her way, but she also had a good heart and was determined to see everyone else happy. She was a vet and ran a pet rescue and safe haven for all animals for as long as they needed.
[[suspects]]Eloise Hamilton was Evan's grandmother. Wealthier than everyone else in the Hamilton family put together, she doted on her grandchildren, but had also raised them to be more down to earth than their parents. Always dressed in pastel chanel and surrounded by her mini dashounds and yorkies, she tended to her gardens and sent baskets of fresh produce to those in need during the day, and sipped whiskey and read in the evenings.
[[suspects]]Annabelle found herself a little in over her head when while attending the Hamilton annual dinner party, the priceless painting from the study of her husband's late grandfather was replaced with a fake.
It wasn't the crime that bugged her, but the nagging suspicion. She was suspicious that it wasn't the maid who disappeared the same night of the painting, but someone in her husband's family that stole the painting from the study and replaced with a fake during the [[dinner party]]. A week later, all Annabelle had thought about was the crime. When she told her husband, who she knew hadn't stolen the painting because he had never left her side, he agreed that it was odd, especially since the maid had worked at Murwood Mansion happily for years and nothing seemed right about the painting's disappeaance.
Knowing that her husband wouldn't be upset if she looked into it further, Annabelle began gathering information on what she knew about [[the crime so far]].Annabelle had been enjoying her first cup of coffee in the sun room when she heard her grandmother in-law's shocked gasp from the study.
Grandma Eloise had gifted that painting to her husband when they wee first married and since his passing, she had been going into the study to admire it and remember.
Now it was gone and Grandma Eloise wanted it back and the theif caught, so she called in some [[detectives]].Annabelle was still a bit of an outsider to wealthy old money families that attended, so she spent the evening on the patio with her husband while he and his twin talked to some guests about their new model of race cars. Lana jumped in to talk about the mechanics of the cars, and Annabelle, with her perfect memory, filled in the statistics from previous races.
Her mother in-law tried to lure them all in and get them to stop with the "shop talk," but they weren't persuaded.
It wasn't long after when all the guests went home and the Hamilton's retired to their rooms until [[morning]].When the Hamilton's were gathered in the main room and questioned by the detectives, no one claimed to know anything.
When the detectives asked to speak with the staff, the maid was discovered to be missing; the Hamilton's took this as proof that she had stolen the art!
However, no one remembered any details that could have proven that or figured out exactly [[what happened]], raising suspsicion in the detectives and Annabelle.She knew was whoever stole the painting that night had already been on the property because the gate never let anyone else in, the desk in the study had been rummaged through, and she had heard the maid arguing with her sister on the phone in the kitchen around the time that the paiting was supposedly taken.
So if the kitchen and study are on two different sides of the mansion and the only way to get from one to the next is through the very open main room where many of the Hamilton's and their guests were partaking in a dinner party, how did the maid manage to steal and replace the painting without anyone seeing her go from the kitchen to the study?
Annabelle couldn't get the feeling of doubt to go away, which had been bugging her since it happened. Her daddy had always told her to trust her gut and follow her instincts, but in doing so, she would be considering her in-laws to be the [[suspects]]!Grandma Eloise loved the painting almost as much as she loved her late husband. Annabelle wasn't even considering her to be a suspect.
Her husband's twin, Ryan, and his fiance, Lana, had been with them for the majority of the night on the patio talking about race cars and their new adjustments to the lastest model.
Her husband's oldest brother, Cal, and his wife, Jennifer, spent the evening chatting with everyone in the dining room, and Annabelle doubted that they would have been able to steal the painting. Also, Jennifer was very pregnant, so she remained seated for the evening, and Cal never left her side.
Annabelle's sister in-law, Blair, thought the painting was underwhelming, so she never understood why her grandparents were so attached to the thing. During the dinner party, she split her time between her grandmother's little dogs and checking her phone for updates on a new rescue her assistant was watching.
Her parents in-law were more likely supsects than her brothers and sisters in-laws because they were a little more calculating and power hungry, but they also feared scandal and anything that could tarnish the Hamilton name. Annabelle wondered if they were desperate enough, would they actually risk their [[reputations]] for money? Annabelle decided that the best way to learn the truth was to get everyone in the same room, so she asked Grandma Eloise if she could invite all the Hamilton's to Murwood Mansion for breakfast.
When she was asked why, Annabelle admitted that she didn't think that the maid had stolen the painting.
Grandma Eloise agreed whole-heartedly and asked Annabelle if she could be trusted with a [[secret]].When Annabelle nodded, the older woman smiled and whispered her secret.
Annabelle was [[shocked]]!