Chapter 6 - the man who was supposed to be dead
Thomas Vale had been William Carter's business partner.
At least, that was the story Mark had grown up hearing.
"He died in a boating accident," Mark explained as they left the bank.
"Body recovered?" Daniel asked.
Mark hesitated.
"I assumed."
"Don't assume anything involving your mother."
They searched public records.
Thomas Vale had indeed been declared dead twenty years earlier.
But no body had ever been found.
His wife had petitioned the court for a declaration of death seven years after his disappearance.
Daniel located a company registration from six months earlier.
VALE CONSULTING GROUP.
Registered in Delaware.
The mailing address belonged to an office complex outside Baltimore.
Emily stared at the screen.
"Someone is using his name."
"Or he is," Daniel said.
Mark shook his head.
"Why would Dad leave a photograph of a dead man?"
"Maybe because he isn't dead."
Daniel found a phone number associated with the company.
Emily called.
A receptionist answered.
"Vale Consulting."
"I need to speak to Thomas Vale."
A pause.
"Who may I say is calling?"
Emily looked at Mark.
"Emily Carter."
The line went quiet.
Then a man answered.
"Mrs. Carter."
Emily's grip tightened around the phone.
"You know who I am."
"I wondered when William's family would call."
Mark took the phone.
"Thomas?"
Silence.
"Mark."
Mark sat down.
"You are alive."
"Yes."
"My father told me you were dead."
"No. Your mother told you I was dead."
Mark's face changed.
Emily leaned closer.
"What happened?"
Thomas sighed.
"Not over the phone."
"Where are you?"
"I'll send an address."
"Why should we trust you?"
"You shouldn't."
That was not the answer Emily expected.
Thomas continued.
"But you should hear what your father spent twenty years trying to tell you."
They met at a roadside restaurant three hours later.
Thomas Vale looked older than the man in the photograph, but unmistakably the same.
He stared at Mark for a long time.
"You look like William."
Mark sat opposite him.
"Why did my parents tell me you died?"
"Your father didn't."
"My father never corrected it."
"Because your mother gave him a reason not to."
Thomas looked at Emily.
"Barbara was not always simply William's wife. She managed the company's finances."
Daniel leaned forward.
"How much did she steal?"
Thomas smiled bitterly.
"You've already figured out there was theft."
"Enough."
Thomas folded his hands.
"Twenty-three years ago, I discovered transfers from Carter Architectural Group into accounts connected to Barbara's brother."
Mark frowned.
"Uncle Raymond?"
"Yes."
"He died in prison."
"After taking responsibility for all of it."
Mark stared.
"Are you saying he didn't?"
"He stole money. But not alone."
Thomas described the original scheme.
Barbara created false vendor invoices.
Raymond processed payments through shell companies.
Thomas uncovered it.
William confronted Barbara.
She denied everything and accused Thomas of stealing from the company himself.
Then Thomas's car brakes failed.
Emily felt a chill.
"Accident?"
"Police called it mechanical failure."
"You didn't."
"No."
Thomas disappeared.
Not because he was dead.
Because someone threatened his wife and infant daughter.
"Barbara?" Mark asked.
"I could never prove it."
"But you believed it."
"I still do."
Mark stood and walked away from the table.
Emily watched him through the window.
Thomas lowered his voice.
"William spent years trying to gather proof without destroying his family."
"And eighteen months ago he died."
Thomas nodded.
"Heart attack."
"Natural?"
"Officially."
Daniel studied him.
"What do you think?"
"I think William called me six days before he died."
Mark returned.
"What did he say?"
Thomas looked directly at him.
"He told me Barbara had started again."
"Started what?"
"Moving money."
"From the company?"
"No."
Thomas's gaze shifted toward Chloe.
"From the trust."
Mark sank into his chair.
"That's impossible. Every withdrawal requires both trustee approvals."
"Correct."
"I never approved withdrawals."
Thomas placed a folder on the table.
"You did."
Mark opened it.
His signature appeared on twelve authorization forms.
Transfers totaling eight hundred and forty thousand dollars.
He stared.
"I never signed these."
Emily looked at the signatures.
They were perfect.
Thomas said quietly, "William discovered them."
"Who got the money?"
"Three companies."
Daniel read the names.
"All dissolved."
"Not before the money moved again."
"Where?"
Thomas looked at Emily.
"That's what William put in the safe-deposit box."
Emily's stomach tightened.
"The documents Barbara took."
"Yes."
"Then we're back to nothing."
Thomas shook his head.
"William never trusted a single copy."
He reached beneath the table.
Emily tensed.
Thomas pulled out an envelope.
"Neither did I."
Inside was a list of bank accounts.
A legal affidavit.
And a photograph of Barbara standing outside a private medical clinic.
The date printed beneath it was the morning William died.
Emily looked up.
"What was she doing there?"
May you like
Thomas's answer made Mark go completely still.
"Buying medication that wasn't prescribed to her."
