Chapter 3 - The Hidden Accounts
The investigation revealed more than an affair.
Gerald hired a forensic accountant named Naomi Pierce, who spent six weeks tracing money through hospital partnerships, shell companies and consulting agreements.
North Meridian Strategies had no real office, no employees and no history before receiving money from the foundation.
Its registered owner was Lauren Carter.
Jack’s sister.
Another company, Dane Medical Logistics, was controlled by Olivia’s brother. It had billed St. Augustine nearly nine hundred thousand dollars for equipment that had never been delivered.
A third company had paid for luxury hotels in New York, Miami and Paris.
Every trip matched a period when Jack had claimed to be attending medical conferences.
Gerald placed the documents across his conference table.
“So far, we have evidence of forged authorization, undisclosed conflicts of interest and the diversion of charitable funds.”
Megan stared at the numbers.
“How much?”
“Approximately 2.4 million dollars.”
She closed her eyes.
That money had been intended for sick children.
Some families had been placed on waiting lists because the foundation supposedly lacked available funds. Megan remembered mothers crying in her office, asking whether another grant might become available.
Jack had watched those families suffer while using the money to finance another life.
“Can we prove he forged my signature?”
“Naomi believes so. But we need stronger evidence connecting Jack directly to the accounts.”
“What about Lauren?”
“Her company received the funds, but she may claim she acted on Jack’s instructions without understanding the source.”
Megan almost laughed.
Lauren had spent years mocking Megan for being too trusting. Now she might use ignorance as her defense.
Gerald slid another folder toward her.
“There is also the matter of your house.”
Megan opened it.
Jack had applied for a line of credit against the property. The house belonged to a trust created before their marriage, meaning Jack had no right to use it as security.
Yet the loan application carried Megan’s signature.
“How much did he borrow?”
“Eight hundred thousand.”
“Where did it go?”
“We’re still tracing it.”
Megan felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath her.
She wanted to drive directly to the hospital, enter Jack’s operating theater and demand the truth in front of everyone. She wanted Helen and Lauren to know the man they defended had stolen from children and forged his wife’s name.
But anger would warn them.
Gerald asked Megan to authorize a deeper investigation.
“If we proceed, we may uncover evidence that requires us to report him.”
“Do it.”
Over the following months, Megan lived two lives.
In one, she was Jack’s supportive wife. She attended dinners, helped the children with homework and listened when Jack complained about hospital politics.
In the other, she collected evidence.
She copied bank notices before Jack could hide them. She documented unexplained absences. She installed additional security cameras in the home after Gerald discovered that someone had entered Megan’s office while she was away.
She also changed the foundation’s internal procedures, requiring two-person verification for every transfer.
Jack noticed immediately.
“Why are you making it harder for the hospital to access funds?”
“Routine restructuring,” Megan replied.
She used his exact words.
For one brief moment, suspicion flashed across his face.
May you like
Then he smiled.
But from that evening onward, he began watching her too.
