Chapter 14 - Arthur’s Last Bargain
The Coast Guard located Arthur’s yacht four hours later.
It was drifting seventeen miles offshore.
Engine running.
No passengers.
No sign of violence.
On the table inside the cabin sat Arthur’s phone.
Beside it was a note.
Clara,
You wanted the truth.
Now earn it.
C.
No signature.
Detective Price took the note as evidence.
Clara read it twice before handing it over.
“C?”
Naomi asked.
“Could be Cross.”
Daniel said, “Helena.”
Grant, who had arrived under police scrutiny, shook his head.
“Too obvious.”
Price looked at him.
“You don’t get to be mysterious anymore.”
Grant smiled faintly.
“I never enjoyed it.”
“You followed Evelyn Reed.”
“Yes.”
“You worked for Arthur.”
“Yes.”
“You also worked for Helena Cross?”
Grant paused.
“For people protecting her.”
“Is she alive?”
“I don’t know now.”
“That’s convenient.”
“It’s true.”
Price leaned closer.
“Where is Laura Hollis?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is the boy?”
“I don’t know.”
Price looked ready to arrest him anyway.
Grant said, “But Arthur left because he believed he was arranging an exchange.”
Clara’s stomach tightened.
“Exchange for what?”
“The trust archive.”
“He doesn’t have it.”
“They wanted you to bring it.”
“No one contacted me.”
“Not yet.”
As if summoned, Clara’s phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A message.
One photograph.
Arthur sitting in a chair.
Alive.
Hands tied.
Behind him was a concrete wall.
Second photograph.
Laura Hollis.
Alive.
Standing alone.
Third photograph.
Eli asleep on a cot.
The final message:
ELEANOR KEPT WHAT WAS OURS.
BRING THE ORIGINAL SHARE CERTIFICATES.
NO POLICE.
Naomi looked at Grant.
“Share certificates?”
He nodded slowly.
“If Eleanor had physical certificates, they could still matter depending on the corporate structure.”
Clara thought of the storage unit.
“We didn’t find certificates.”
Grant stared at her.
“Then you missed something.”
They returned with police authorization.
Detective Price insisted on controlling the search.
Every box was examined.
Every cabinet.
Every desk panel.
Nothing.
Clara stood in the center of Eleanor’s hidden office.
What would her grandmother have done?
Not a safe.
Arthur knew safes.
Not a drawer.
Arthur searched drawers.
Clara looked toward the disconnected server rack.
Eleanor had never trusted digital-only records.
She crossed the room.
Behind the rack was a narrow strip of wall paneling.
One screw was newer than the others.
Daniel helped remove it.
Inside was a waterproof metal tube.
Price opened it.
Certificates.
Original Meridian Systems shares.
Eleanor Vance.
Transferred to Clara Vance Trust.
Not Vance Legacy Holdings.
Naomi exhaled.
“This could blow apart every later transfer.”
Grant stared at the certificates like a man seeing a ghost.
Clara said, “This is what they want.”
“Yes.”
“Why now?”
Grant’s face remained fixed on the documents.
“Because Meridian is being sold again.”
“To who?”
“Helix Global.”
“When?”
“Forty-eight hours.”
“If these shares are valid?”
“The ownership structure becomes contestable.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning billions of dollars could freeze while courts determine who owns what.”
Clara almost laughed.
Her son had been denied an eighty-dollar plate because Arthur considered him beneath the family.
All while Arthur was hiding a war over billions behind Clara’s name.
Price’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression hardened.
“What?”
He stepped away.
Clara watched him.
When he returned, his face was different.
“What happened?”
“We found Arthur.”
“Where?”
“An abandoned customs building.”
“And Laura?”
“No.”
“The child?”
“No.”
“Arthur alive?”
“Yes.”
“Can we talk to him?”
Price hesitated.
“He’s in an ambulance.”
“Why?”
“He was beaten.”
Clara felt no satisfaction.
Price continued.
“He asked for you.”
At the hospital, Arthur looked twenty years older.
One eye swollen.
Lip split.
Wrist bandaged.
Clara stood beside the bed.
“You wanted me.”
Arthur struggled to focus.
“They have the boy.”
“Who?”
His breathing became shallow.
“Not Grant.”
“I know.”
“Not Helena.”
“Then who?”
Arthur looked toward the door.
Terrified.
“The company was never the top.”
“What does that mean?”
“Meridian. Helix. Legacy. All shells eventually.”
“For who?”
Arthur swallowed.
“There’s a group.”
“What group?”
“They called it Continuance.”
Clara leaned closer.
“Who are they?”
“I only knew three names.”
“Give them to me.”
Arthur whispered one.
“Helena Cross.”
Clara nodded.
“Second?”
“Evelyn Reed.”
Clara stopped.
“Evelyn was part of it?”
“Before she tried to leave.”
“And the third?”
Arthur’s eyes shifted toward Clara.
He began shaking.
“Dad.”
“You’ll hate me.”
“I already do.”
A weak almost-smile touched his split lip.
May you like
Then he whispered:
“Your grandmother.”
