Chapter 8 - the accusation from twenty-eight years ago
The tape continued.
“Martin has the financial records. Thomas has the property deeds. Margaret has no idea what they are planning, and I no longer know whether her ignorance is real or convenient.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Helen’s voice had not changed in her memory. It still carried the same mixture of certainty and hurt that filled their final conversation.
“If something happens to me, Ethan must be protected. He is the only heir they all agree upon. That makes him valuable, but it also makes him vulnerable.”
A door opened in the recording.
Helen stopped speaking.
A man’s voice said her name.
The voice was faint, but Margaret recognized Thomas.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Leaving evidence.”
“Destroy it.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand the danger.”
“I understand that Martin is stealing.”
“Martin is moving money because I told him to.”
Margaret opened her eyes.
Ethan stared at the cassette player.
Helen’s voice sharpened.
“Then you are both criminals.”
“You think this is about money?”
“What else could it be?”
“Protection.”
“From whom?”
Thomas did not answer immediately.
When he spoke again, his voice was lower.
“From Margaret.”
The tape ended.
Ethan pressed the play button again, but the cassette had reached its end.
No further explanation followed.
Margaret stood completely still.
Vanessa watched her.
“You heard him.”
“I heard an unfinished conversation.”
“He said he was protecting Ethan from you.”
“He may have been lying to Helen.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan’s face was pale.
“Did Dad ever try to take me away from you?”
“No.”
“Did he believe you were dangerous?”
“No.”
“How can you be certain?”
“Because until the final year of his life, we made every decision together.”
“Until the final year.”
Margaret looked at him.
“After Martin disappeared, Thomas became suspicious of everyone. Including me.”
“Why?”
“He believed I had given evidence to federal investigators.”
“Had you?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa let out a quiet breath.
“You turned his closest friend over to the government.”
“I reported theft from our company.”
“Thomas thought it was something else.”
Margaret faced her.
“You are very interested in defending a man you never met.”
“I am interested in the person who explained why you control Ethan.”
“You mean Lydia.”
Vanessa looked away.
That small movement told Margaret there was more.
“You spoke to someone besides Lydia.”
Vanessa did not answer.
Margaret stepped closer.
“Who?”
Ethan looked at Vanessa.
“Tell us.”
She shook her head.
“I promised.”
“You promised the people who used you to steal from my mother?”
“They didn’t use me.”
“They created a fake wedding date, a fake corporate announcement, and a property transaction in our names.”
Vanessa’s composure broke.
“They promised me security.”
The admission hung in the cold library.
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Security from what?”
“From being left with nothing.”
“You told me your family was wealthy.”
“My father lost everything three years ago. The trust fund was gone. The homes, the accounts, all of it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I knew how you would look at me.”
“I loved you.”
“You loved the person I presented.”
Ethan took a step back.
Vanessa’s voice became desperate.
“The woman calling herself Helen knew about my father’s debts. She knew I had used borrowed jewelry and rented cars to keep people from realizing what happened. She offered me a way out.”
“In exchange for what?” Margaret asked.
“Getting close to Ethan.”
The room seemed to shrink around them.
Ethan stared at her.
“Our first meeting wasn’t an accident.”
Vanessa began to cry, but she wiped the tears away angrily.
“No.”
“You approached me because someone paid you?”
“At first.”
“At first?”
“I was supposed to encourage you to accept a leadership role at Hale Meridian. I was supposed to make you believe your mother was standing in your way.”
“You spent two years telling me she wanted me to fail.”
“Because you already believed it.”
Ethan’s face twisted.
Vanessa reached toward him.
“But I did fall in love with you.”
He moved away before she could touch him.
“What were you promised?”
“The Malibu house. A settlement. A position after you became chief executive.”
“And the forged signature?”
“I never created it.”
“But you used it.”
Vanessa could not deny that.
Margaret looked toward Daniel.
“Record everything she says from this point forward.”
Daniel placed his phone on the desk.
Vanessa noticed and laughed bitterly.
“You think a confession will solve this?”
“It will explain your role.”
“My role was small.”
“You stole hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
“I spent money they told me had been approved.”
“By a dead woman?”
Vanessa looked toward the door.
“No.”
Margaret’s pulse quickened.
“Who approved it?”
Vanessa hesitated.
Then she answered.
“A man.”
“What name did he use?”
“He called himself Martin.”
Daniel and Margaret exchanged a look.
“Martin Voss?” Ethan asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you meet him?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“The night I received the brass key.”
“Where?”
Vanessa looked toward the portrait of Helen.
“In this house.”
Margaret stepped closer.
“What did he look like?”
“Older. Gray hair. A scar near his left ear.”
Margaret knew that scar.
Martin Voss had received it during a sailing accident with Thomas.
“Did he say why he was doing this?”
“He said Hale Meridian had been built on stolen property and one broken promise.”
“What promise?”
“That Ethan would inherit everything when Margaret was gone.”
A sound came from the hallway.
The front door had opened.
A man’s voice called from the foyer.
“You should not have played that tape.”
May you like
Margaret recognized the voice before the man entered the library.
Martin Voss had finally returned.
