Chapter 17 - The File Martin Left Behind
Martin Keene did not board the plane.
Airport cameras showed him entering the terminal with one suitcase. Twelve minutes later, he exited through a service corridor wearing a maintenance jacket.
The ticket had been a distraction.
At his house, investigators found nothing except an empty safe and a recently cleaned computer.
Chloe returned to the legal center while she waited for her suspension to end. She helped Mara organize years of documents from Sloane Advisory.
Near midnight, Mara found Martin’s name in an old visitor log.
He had met Sloane on the day Charles Hartwell died.
Officially, Charles had suffered a heart attack during a board retreat.
The meeting location was listed as the coastal estate.
Chloe looked at Mara.
“My father died at a hotel in Vermont.”
“Then why was Martin at the estate?”
They searched the storage inventory.
One item had been removed three days after Charles’s death: a sealed file labeled C.H. PERSONAL.
The removal had been authorized by Elaine.
Chloe called her mother.
Elaine was silent for so long that Chloe thought the call had disconnected.
Finally, she said, “Your father did not die in Vermont.”
Elaine came to the center carrying a small wooden box.
Inside was Charles’s watch, his wedding ring, and a photograph of the coastal estate taken on the morning he died.
Martin Keene stood near the entrance.
Victor Sloane’s car was parked behind him.
“Why did you lie?” Chloe asked.
Elaine looked at her daughter.
“Because your father discovered what Ryan had done.”
May you like
She placed the box on the table.
“And Ryan was in the house when he died.”
