Chapter 5 - THE BROTHER NO ONE MENTIONED
Loretta showed the photograph to Howard.
He studied the handwriting, then locked the office door.
“What does this mean?” she asked.
Howard did not answer immediately.
That hesitation frightened her more than the message.
“Howard?”
“There is something I should have told you before Austin met Brittany.”
Loretta remained standing.
“What?”
“Franklin Vale and I knew each other before Miller Urban Development existed.”
“You said you met him last year.”
“That was the first time I had seen him in twenty-seven years.”
Loretta lowered herself into a chair.
Howard began pacing.
After college, he and Franklin had worked for the same construction company. They became close and later attempted to purchase a failing apartment complex together.
Howard provided the development plan. Franklin arranged the investors.
The deal collapsed when nearly $600,000 disappeared from the project account.
Franklin blamed a junior accountant.
The accountant was Howard’s younger half brother, Daniel.
Loretta stared at him.
“You told me Daniel left the country.”
“He did.”
“You never told me he was accused of stealing.”
“Because he denied it, and because I believed him.”
“What happened?”
“Daniel vanished before the police could question him.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never found him?”
Howard looked toward the photograph on the desk.
“No.”
Loretta had met Daniel only twice during the first year of her marriage. He was charming, restless, and ten years younger than Howard. Then he disappeared, and Howard refused to discuss him.
“Why would someone write that we are watching the wrong son?”
Howard turned.
“I don’t know.”
“Could Daniel have a child?”
“He wasn’t married.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Howard’s silence answered it.
Loretta stood again.
“You have spent weeks investigating Brittany’s family while hiding your own.”
“This happened almost thirty years ago.”
“And now Franklin Vale is back.”
“I know.”
“Does Austin know about Daniel?”
“No.”
“Does Brittany?”
“I don’t know.”
Loretta moved toward the door.
Howard caught her hand gently.
“There is one more thing.”
She closed her eyes.
“Of course there is.”
“When the old project collapsed, Franklin’s younger sister disappeared at the same time as Daniel.”
“What was her name?”
“Rebecca.”
Loretta turned back.
“You think they left together?”
“I always assumed they did.”
“And if they had a child…”
“That child would be close to Austin’s age.”
Loretta looked down at the childhood photograph.
You are watching the wrong son.
“Could someone be claiming Austin is not involved?”
“Or that another son is.”
Howard opened an old locked cabinet and removed a file Loretta had never seen.
Inside were bank statements, police reports, photographs, and letters from the failed development.
One photograph showed Howard, Franklin, Daniel, and a young woman with long dark hair.
Rebecca Vale.
Brittany’s aunt.
On the back of the photograph, someone had circled Daniel and Rebecca in red ink.
Beneath them was a date written twenty-nine years earlier.
Naomi examined the file the next morning.
“The missing money was never recovered,” she said. “But there’s something unusual.”
She placed two bank statements side by side.
The stolen funds had been moved through four accounts before disappearing.
One account belonged to a company called L.M. Holdings.
Loretta felt a chill.
“Those are my initials.”
Howard shook his head.
“The company existed before we met.”
Naomi looked at both of them.
“The business was registered under the name Loretta Marie Vale.”
Loretta stared at the page.
“My middle name is Anne.”
“Then someone else used your first name and Franklin’s family name.”
Howard reached for the document.
“Who owned it?”
“The records are sealed.”
“Why?”
Naomi scrolled farther down.
“Because the company has recently been reactivated.”
“How recently?”
“Eleven days ago.”
May you like
The company’s new mailing address appeared on the screen.
It was the address of Austin’s $2.5 million apartment.
