Chapter 497 The Handwriting Is Hard to Read.
The show had already started recording. As the headliner, Jessica and the young contestants were scheduled to perform last. Since the recording would take about three hours,she didn't need to appear during the first few hours. This gave her some free time to clear her thoughts.
She called Zoey, who stayed behind in Xyleria, asking Zoey to go to her apartment near the studio to find some important items she had left behind and a small box she had placed at the bottom of a cabinet.
Zoey knew the password to her home. Following Jessica's instructions over the phone, she rummaged through the cabinet and indeed found an old small leather suitcase.
She said, "I found it. But it's locked, and I can't open it."
Jessica instructed, "The key is in the drawer under the cabinet. Look carefully."
"Oh, I'll check." Zoey tilted her head, holding the phone between her head and shoulder. One hand held the suitcase and the other opened the drawer under the cabinet. She found an envelope and saw the key inside. "I found it!"
"Open the box and see if there's a small booklet inside." Jessica instructed calmly.
Zoey did as told. "There is."
However, Zoey also noticed an old photo frame inside. The color photo looked like it was from twenty years ago. Despite being in a frame, it showed signs of aging. The photo featured a beautiful young woman holding a child who looked about one years old or so, both smiling happily at the camera.
With just one glance, Zoey recognized the beautiful young woman in the photo as Jessica's mother because she and Jessica looked so alike. It turned out that not only was Jessica a beauty, which explained why Danielle was so pretty and cute, but Jessica's mother was also very beautiful. Even twenty years ago, her natural beauty would have stood out in a crowd.
The box contained Jessica's mother's few belongings.
The box had been stored in the dusty attic of the Jenner Mansion in Xyleria. Jessica had opened it a few times. Later, when the Jenner Mansion was seized, she took the opportunity to retrieve her mother's belongings before everything inside was taken away.
Jessica clearly knew the items inside because she had opened it out of curiosity a few times as a child.
Besides the photo of her mother holding her as a one-year-old, there was a booklet of unknown records, a few hairpins her mother used, and some clothes. Jessica had put the clothes in there herself, having tried them on as a child but kept them clean and well-preserved.
The booklet contained notes her mother had made while working at Rubin Corporation, mostly about company matters and the schedules of the executives.
Jessica always knew her mother was a dedicated worker and seemed to have a significant presence at the company. As a child, she mostly noticed how beautiful her mother's handwriting. The booklet was kept in the bottom compartment of the box to avoid getting dirty, wet, or losing pages.
Even though Jessica couldn't see the booklet over the phone, she could recall some of its contents from memory. She instructed in a deep voice, "Open it and look at the pages written in blue ink. Do they record up to March 1999? And after that, there's no more mention of Rubin Corporation's collaborations."
The sound of pages being carefully turned came through the phone, followed by Zoey's voice. "Yes, there's nothing more. The later entries are in ballpoint pen, and the writing is hard to read because it's so old."
"Turn past the ballpoint pen entries and see if there's anything about the Jenner family."
A few minutes later, Zoey replied, "No. I looked closely and found it only mentions Aaron from out of town attending an important dinner in Xyleria. The writing is too faint to read clearly, and it seems the name 'Aaron' was written with such force that the surrounding paper turned yellow, making it hard to read."
"Each work record on the previous pages has an exact date. But after March 1999, when Rubin Corporation signed a contract with the Jenners, there are no specific dates, just the year and month, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Open the transparent cover of the booklet. There's a receipt hidden inside."
Zoey carefully took out the receipt, which was very thin and fragile from age. She opened it cautiously and said, "The writing on this receipt is also faint, but it seems to be for a payment of two million dollars."
"Who is the sender?"
Zoey scrutinized the writing. "It looks like someone named Ross, and the rest is unclear."
As a child, Jessica didn't know anyone named Ross, so she had no idea who had given her mother such a large sum of money over twenty years ago.
"Take a clear photo of the receipt and send it to me. Look closely. Is it Grace Ross?"
Zoey's voice was filled with doubt. "Yes!"
Jessica closed her eyes instantly. It was indeed Aaron's wife, Daniel's mother, Grace.
She had recently been investigating people around Aaron and found his wife's name familiar.
Before she was even born, Aaron and his wife had given her mother a large sum of money. What was it for?
"Jessica! Jessica! Jessica!"
Jessica had never participated in such a show before. She wasn't into music and had little exposure to the current pop idol scene. Apart from performing a classical dance in a live broadcast to target Trinity and some occasional dance scenes in films and TV shows, she had never danced on a stage surrounded by so many people.
From the moment she appeared as a surprise guest to the brief three minutes on stage, the audience watching the finals went wild.
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