Chapter 5 - The Red Ledger
Emily sold the television and used part of the money to consult a legal-aid attorney.
The attorney listened carefully but explained that trust litigation could take months. Without access to the actual documents, proving fraud would be difficult.
“Start with the company receiving the transfers,” he advised. “Find out what Northbridge Consulting really does.”
The warehouse address listed for Northbridge stood in an industrial district on the South Side.
Emily left Lily with her friend Maya for the afternoon and took two buses to reach it.
The building appeared abandoned.
Several windows were boarded. A rusted chain hung across the loading entrance. The company name was nowhere in sight.
Emily walked around the side.
A smaller door stood open.
Inside, she found empty shelves, broken furniture and a layer of dust across the floor.
But fresh tire tracks crossed the loading area.
Someone had been there recently.
A light appeared beneath a door at the rear of the warehouse.
Emily moved closer.
Before she could knock, the door opened.
An older man stepped out carrying a cardboard file box.
He nearly dropped it when he saw her.
“Who are you?”
“Emily Carter.”
The man stared at her.
Then he quickly looked toward the entrance.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Do you know Northbridge Consulting?”
“I used to keep its books.”
“My trust money was sent here.”
The man’s face tightened.
“Come inside.”
His name was Samuel Price. He had worked as a senior accountant for Hale Family Holdings for twenty-two years before suddenly resigning.
Richard told everyone Samuel had stolen money.
Samuel claimed the opposite.
“Northbridge was one of twelve shell companies,” he said. “Richard created them after Lydia died.”
“What did they do?”
“Nothing. They received money, split it into smaller transfers and sent it to private accounts.”
“Vanessa is listed as the director.”
“She signed the documents. Richard controlled the money.”
Emily showed him the photograph Ruth Bell had given her.
Samuel lowered himself into a chair.
“I took that picture.”
“You were at the law office?”
“I followed Richard.”
“Why?”
“Your mother asked me to.”
Emily leaned forward.
Samuel explained that Lydia had discovered unauthorized loans against her shares in Hale Family Holdings. She believed Richard was using the family company to cover losses from private investments.
Lydia planned to tell Warren.
Three days before the meeting, she disappeared.
“The family announced she died in Paris,” Samuel said. “But I knew she had never boarded the flight.”
“How?”
“I drove her to the airport. She entered the terminal, then left through another door. She told me she was meeting someone from the law firm.”
“Who?”
“She didn’t say.”
Samuel opened the cardboard box.
Inside were financial statements, photocopied checks and a small red ledger.
Every page contained dates, initials and transfer amounts.
One set of initials appeared repeatedly.
RC.
Another appeared beside most of the trust payments.
VH.
Richard Carter did not exist.
Richard Hale and Vanessa Hale did.
Emily turned to the last written page.
A payment of $40,000 had been recorded four days after Lydia’s funeral.
Beside it was the name Ruth Bell.
“She never accepted any money,” Emily said.
“I know. Richard recorded payments even when the person refused them. It allowed him to remove cash without identifying the real recipient.”
“Who received it?”
Samuel shook his head.
“That is what I was trying to discover when Richard accused me of theft.”
Emily photographed every page.
A vehicle door slammed outside.
Samuel immediately closed the ledger.
“Did anyone follow you?”
“I don’t think so.”
The overhead lights went out.
Footsteps entered the warehouse.
Samuel pushed the cardboard box into Emily’s arms and pointed toward a rear exit.
“Take it.”
“What about you?”
“Go.”
The footsteps moved closer.
Emily ran through the rear door.
As she reached the alley, she heard Samuel call out to someone.
Then came the sound of furniture falling.
Emily turned back.
A man in a dark coat stepped into the doorway.
May you like
He did not chase her.
He simply lifted his phone and photographed her face.
