Chapter 5 - Adrian’s Last Investigation
Elena read Adrian’s letter three times.
The words did not change.
Vivian knew Marianne was alive.
Elena sat behind the old desk while the afternoon light faded from the study. The hidden compartment remained open beside her, filled with evidence Adrian had collected before his death.
Daniel arrived twenty minutes after she called.
He locked the door behind him and read the letter in silence.
“Is this his handwriting?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“You’re certain?”
“I received letters from him for eleven years.”
Daniel laid it beside the photograph.
“This date is seventeen years old.”
“Three years after my mother disappeared.”
“Where was it taken?”
“There’s no location marked.”
He studied the mansion in the background.
“The stone is darker.”
“Bellweather was restored before my father bought it.”
“So the photograph might predate his ownership.”
Elena opened the first folder.
It contained copies of property documents, company registrations and handwritten notes. Adrian had drawn lines between names, dates and bank accounts.
One company appeared repeatedly.
Northstar Fiduciary Holdings.
“Do you recognize it?” Elena asked.
Daniel shook his head.
They searched through the papers.
Northstar had purchased several unpaid loans from Harbor Land Group, the company that once controlled Bellweather. Two years later, Gabriel Mercer bought the mansion from Harbor Land for less than half its appraised value.
The transaction had appeared legal.
Adrian’s notes suggested otherwise.
A single sentence was circled near the bottom of a page.
Northstar beneficial owner: M. Mercer?
“What does M stand for?” Elena asked.
“Marianne, possibly.”
“Then my mother may have owned the company that controlled the house.”
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
“If that’s true, your father may not have purchased Bellweather from strangers.”
“He may have purchased it from her.”
“Or taken it from her.”
The digital recorder sat beneath the folders.
Elena pressed the power button.
The screen lit up.
There were four audio files.
The first contained only static.
The second began with Adrian’s voice.
“March fourteenth, nine forty-two p.m. Interview with Thomas Reed.”
Elena gripped the edge of the desk.
An older man spoke next.
“I should never have helped Gabriel.”
Adrian asked, “Helped him do what?”
“Hide Marianne.”
“Was she alive after the Grayhaven crash?”
“Yes.”
“Why did Gabriel declare her dead?”
“He said it was the only way to protect Elena.”
“Protect her from whom?”
A pause followed.
“From the people Marianne worked with.”
“What people?”
“Northstar.”
Adrian’s voice sharpened.
“Marianne owned Northstar.”
“No. She founded it. She did not control it by the end.”
“Who did?”
“I never knew their real names.”
“What did Gabriel do to her?”
“He kept her at Bellweather until she recovered. Then he sent her away with new documents.”
“Where?”
“I drove her to a private airfield.”
“Destination?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
“Did Vivian Vale know?”
Another long silence.
“Yes.”
Elena covered her mouth.
On the recording, Adrian asked, “How?”
“Vivian was Marianne’s financial adviser.”
Daniel stopped the audio.
Elena stared at him.
“Vivian advised my mother?”
“That would explain how she knew about Northstar.”
“And why Adrian investigated her.”
Daniel resumed the recording.
Adrian asked Thomas whether Marianne was still alive.
Thomas answered carefully.
“She was alive the last time I saw her.”
“When?”
“Eight months ago.”
The recording ended.
Elena looked at the date.
Adrian had recorded the interview twenty-seven days before his death.
“Thomas saw my mother four years ago.”
Daniel nodded.
“She could still be alive today.”
The third file contained a conversation between Adrian and an unidentified woman.
Her voice was distorted, as though she had spoken through an electronic filter.
“You need to stop searching.”
Adrian replied, “Not until I know why my wife was told her mother died.”
“Gabriel made that choice.”
“Vivian helped him.”
“Vivian helped herself.”
“What does that mean?”
“She moved money through Northstar after Marianne disappeared.”
“How much?”
“Enough to build a new life.”
“Where is Marianne now?”
“If she wants Elena to find her, she will.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“Then finding her could get Elena killed.”
Elena turned the recorder off.
Daniel stepped away from the desk.
“This changes everything.”
“My mother was alive. Vivian knew. Adrian found out, and less than a month later he died.”
“We cannot assume those events are connected.”
“Do you believe they aren’t?”
Daniel did not answer.
Elena opened the last folder.
Inside was a list of wire transfers from charitable foundations controlled by Sarah. The amounts were small at first, then increased over time.
Twenty thousand.
Fifty thousand.
One hundred and eighty thousand.
The money moved through shell companies before reaching an account associated with Northstar Fiduciary Holdings.
Sarah’s gala donations had not disappeared.
They had been redirected.
Daniel photographed every page.
“We need investigators.”
“Not yet.”
“Elena.”
“If we go to the police without knowing who controls Northstar, Sarah and Vivian will destroy whatever remains.”
“You cannot investigate this alone.”
“I’m not alone.”
“You have Mia to protect.”
“That is why I need the truth.”
Daniel closed the folder.
“What are you planning?”
“The gala.”
“You still want it to happen?”
“Sarah believes I’m going to sign the trust that night.”
“She also believes the forged version will survive review.”
“Then we let her believe both.”
Daniel studied her.
“You want to use the transfer as bait.”
“I want everyone involved in the same room when they think they’ve won.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“So is waiting for another car to go over a cliff.”
Daniel’s face changed at the reference to Adrian.
Elena regretted it immediately, but the words could not be withdrawn.
He walked to the window.
“If we proceed, you follow my instructions.”
“Agreed.”
“You do not confront Vivian.”
“Agreed.”
“You do not leave Mia unattended.”
“Agreed.”
“And you sign nothing I have not personally placed in front of you.”
Elena nodded.
Daniel gathered the documents.
As he lifted the final page, something fell from the folder.
It was a seating chart for the gala.
Several names had been circled.
One belonged to Martin Kells, a retired property notary.
Daniel recognized it instantly.
“He notarized your father’s purchase of Bellweather.”
“Why is he invited?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena examined the chart.
A handwritten note appeared beside Kells’s name.
Keep him away from Elena until filing is complete.
The handwriting matched the note Mia had found.
But beneath the instruction was a second message written in red ink.
May you like
Sarah thinks she is stealing the house.
She does not know someone else already has.
