Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Gone)
Rebecca Hale had worked as Richard Sterling's executive assistant.
Daniel barely remembered her.
In his memory she was always carrying folders and speaking quietly into a headset.
Samuel remembered much more.
"Your father trusted Rebecca more than most of the board," he said.
They remained in the basement.
Daniel copied the balloon footage onto three separate drives.
"What happened to her?"
"Officially?"
"Start there."
"She resigned."
"And unofficially?"
"Nobody could find her."
Daniel looked back at the screen.
Rebecca stood partially hidden behind the hedge.
"Why would she be here yesterday?"
Samuel said nothing.
Daniel enlarged the image.
Rebecca looked older, but not dramatically so.
Her hair had turned partly gray.
She wore catering staff clothing.
"She came disguised."
Samuel nodded.
"Looks that way."
"Maybe she works for the catering company."
"Maybe."
Daniel heard skepticism.
"What?"
Samuel stared at Rebecca.
"Your father left her something."
Daniel turned.
"What?"
"I don't know."
"You keep saying that."
"Because your father became secretive near the end."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Did he think my mother was stealing?"
"Yes."
"Did he think she was dangerous?"
Samuel waited.
That pause was becoming familiar.
Daniel's voice hardened.
"Answer me."
"Yes."
Daniel stared at him.
Samuel continued.
"Richard loved Margaret."
"That doesn't answer the question."
"He loved her and feared what money had turned her into."
Daniel looked away.
On the laptop, Lily's fall replayed silently.
He shut the screen.
"I want everything copied."
Samuel nodded.
They left the basement fifteen minutes later.
Margaret's Bentley was entering the driveway.
Daniel and Samuel stayed behind the greenhouse until it passed.
Then Daniel drove away.
His phone rang before he reached the highway.
Caroline.
"You missed the board meeting."
"I know."
"Mom removed you as chairman."
Daniel expected to feel something.
He felt relief.
"Good."
Caroline went quiet.
"You don't mean that."
"I do."
"She also froze your trust distributions."
"Also good."
"Daniel."
"Caroline, our mother suspended my daughter over a mud hole using balloons."
"I saw the video."
Daniel nearly hit the brakes.
"What video?"
"The garden video."
"How?"
"It was emailed to me ten minutes ago."
"By who?"
"No sender name."
Daniel pulled onto the shoulder.
"Was it the same camera angle as the viral phone video?"
"No."
Daniel's pulse accelerated.
Rebecca.
Or someone who had access to the seventh camera.
"What did the email say?"
Caroline read it.
"Ask Margaret what happened on October seventeenth."
Daniel frowned.
"What year?"
"Eleven years ago."
The year Richard died.
"What happened October seventeenth?"
"I don't know."
Daniel looked through the windshield.
"Check Dad's calendar."
"Mom has his old files."
"Corporate archives will have copies."
"Not if she destroyed them."
"Then find someone who remembers."
Caroline lowered her voice.
"Daniel, something happened at the meeting."
"What?"
"Mom announced she's changing the family succession plan."
Daniel almost laughed.
"She already removed me."
"She's not replacing you with me."
That surprised him.
"Then who?"
"Nobody."
"What does that mean?"
"She's transferring family voting power into a private holding company."
"Controlled by?"
"Her."
"That's temporary."
"No."
Caroline's voice trembled.
"She said the new structure becomes permanent if any direct heir is deemed unfit."
Daniel understood immediately.
"Lily."
"Yes."
The grandchildren mattered.
Not just Daniel.
Lily represented another line of inheritance.
Daniel looked at the flash drive lying on the passenger seat.
His mother had humiliated a two-year-old because of class prejudice.
That was horrible enough.
But if Caroline was right, Margaret also had a financial reason to create evidence that Lily's parents were unstable.
A family scandal.
An angry father captured slapping the matriarch.
A distraught mother accused of manipulating a child.
Daniel suddenly saw the garden incident differently.
"What if she wanted me to hit her?"
Caroline went silent.
Daniel continued.
"She insulted Ava loudly. In front of cameras. She waited until I was behind her."
"You think she planned your reaction?"
"I think Mom never does anything without calculating what comes next."
Caroline whispered, "Oh God."
Daniel's phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
He opened it.
A photograph appeared.
Richard Sterling walking through an airport.
The timestamp showed October 17, eleven years earlier.
A woman walked beside him.
Rebecca Hale.
Below the photograph were six words.
HE DID NOT DIE WHERE YOU THINK.
Daniel stared.
May you like
Another message appeared.
DO NOT TRUST THE DEATH CERTIFICATE.
