Chapter 4 - The Woman Named Caroline
The attacker survived.
Barely.
His name was Peter Mallory.
Sixty-one years old.
Former security supervisor at First National Bank.
No criminal history.
No current employment record.
And according to state databases, Peter Mallory had been legally dead for eleven years.
“That’s impossible,” Julian said.
The will reading had been delayed because of the bank attack, but Samuel insisted the immediate family remain at Victor’s mansion.
Julian paced in the study.
Serena sat rigidly near the fireplace.
Raymond had not arrived.
That alone told Elena something.
Agent Hale entered.
“Where is your uncle?”
Julian shrugged.
“He doesn’t report to me.”
Samuel looked at Elena.
“He didn’t answer my calls.”
Elena studied Serena.
“Did you tell him about the bank?”
Serena’s eyes narrowed.
“Why would I?”
“Because three weeks ago you entered that bank pretending to be me.”
Julian stopped pacing.
“What?”
Serena went still.
Elena placed a printed security image on the desk.
Julian grabbed it.
His expression changed.
“Serena?”
“It’s not what it looks like.”
“You used Elena’s ID?”
Serena stood.
“Your father asked me to retrieve something.”
Samuel spoke.
“Victor did not.”
“You don’t know every conversation I had with him.”
“I handled his legal affairs for twenty-eight years.”
“You were his lawyer, not his shadow.”
Elena stepped closer.
“What did you take?”
“Nothing.”
“You spent eleven minutes inside box 417.”
Serena said nothing.
Julian moved toward her.
“What did you take?”
She looked at him.
For the first time, arrogance disappeared.
Fear replaced it.
“A photograph.”
“Of what?”
“A woman.”
Elena’s heartbeat changed.
“Caroline?”
Serena’s eyes betrayed her.
Samuel noticed.
“So you do know the name.”
Serena looked toward the door.
Agent Hale blocked it.
“Sit down.”
She did.
Julian looked as if someone had struck him.
“You’ve been lying to me?”
Serena laughed bitterly.
“That’s rich coming from the man who forged his father’s signature twelve times.”
“I told you those loans were temporary.”
“And I told you not to touch the retirement account.”
Elena stared between them.
“You knew.”
Serena realized too late what she had admitted.
Samuel leaned over the desk.
“How much did you know?”
Serena folded her arms.
“Enough to know Victor was hiding assets.”
“Which assets?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why steal from a safety-deposit box?”
“I was trying to protect my husband.”
Julian scoffed.
“By lying to me?”
Serena turned on him.
“Because you panic. You drink. You threaten people. And then your sister gets punched beside a coffin while every phone in the cemetery is recording.”
Julian’s jaw clenched.
Elena almost smiled.
Almost.
Agent Hale placed another photograph on the desk.
“This was recovered from Serena’s personal safe this morning pursuant to a warrant.”
The image was old.
A young woman stood outside a hospital holding an infant.
She had dark brown hair.
A narrow face.
And Elena’s eyes.
Elena felt the room disappear.
On the back, someone had written:
CAROLINE MARSH.
APRIL 1992.
Samuel sat down heavily.
Elena touched the photograph.
“Who is she?”
Serena looked away.
“Victor thought she was your mother.”
Elena could barely speak.
“Biological mother?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you take this?”
Serena’s silence lasted too long.
Julian stepped forward.
“Answer her.”
She glared at him.
“I was paid.”
Every person in the room froze.
“By who?” Hale asked.
Serena swallowed.
“I never met him.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand.”
Elena’s voice became quiet.
“To steal a photograph?”
“And destroy the ledger if I found it.”
Julian stared.
“You were paid to destroy Dad’s evidence?”
“I thought it was financial.”
“You thought?”
“I was trying to get us out of debt.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“We’re in debt because you spent six hundred thousand renovating a house we don’t own.”
“And because you lost nine hundred thousand on your ridiculous development project.”
“Enough,” Elena said.
Both turned.
“Who paid you?”
Serena hesitated.
Then said the name.
“Northstar Holdings.”
Samuel immediately looked at Agent Hale.
He knew it.
Elena saw that.
“What is Northstar?”
Samuel took a breath.
“A corporation your father investigated before his death.”
“What does it own?”
“On paper? Almost nothing.”
“And off paper?”
Samuel looked toward the black ledger.
“Possibly people.”
The mansion became silent.
Julian stared at him.
“That’s insane.”
Samuel shook his head.
“No. What Victor found was insane.”
He opened his briefcase and removed a report.
“Northstar Holdings has existed in some form for thirty-one years. It has changed names seven times. Every version was connected to clinics, adoption agencies, private schools, trusts, and inheritance management companies.”
Elena stared at the photograph of Caroline.
“Where does Raymond fit?”
Samuel looked grim.
“Your uncle founded the first company.”
Julian turned toward the door.
“I’m calling him.”
His phone rang before he could.
Unknown number.
Julian answered.
“What?”
His expression changed.
Elena watched him listen.
Then he slowly looked toward her.
“What did they say?” she asked.
Julian lowered the phone.
May you like
His face was pale.
“They said if Elena keeps looking for Caroline, we bury another Vance before Friday.”
