Chapter 6 - The Man Beside Rebecca)
Andrew Miles had worked for Daniel for eleven years.
He had attended Laura’s funeral.
He had sent Emily birthday gifts.
He had sat across from Daniel during late-night business meetings, family crises and the worst months of Laura’s illness.
Daniel trusted him almost as much as Jonathan.
That made the photograph worse.
Michael Carter looked at it twice.
“You’re sure that’s Andrew?”
Daniel gave him a hard look.
Michael nodded.
“Stupid question.”
Jonathan examined the photograph.
“Someone was watching the bank.”
“Or watching Rebecca,” Daniel said.
Emily stood between Daniel and Michael.
She was exhausted.
Daniel crouched.
“Sweetheart, Uncle Michael is going to take you to Grandma Carter’s house.”
Emily immediately shook her head.
“No.”
“I have to go to the bank.”
“I want to go with you.”
“It may take a while.”
“I don’t care.”
Daniel hesitated.
Emily looked toward the chapel.
“Don’t leave me with Rebecca.”
The words broke something in him.
Daniel pulled her into his arms.
“She will never be alone with you again.”
Emily clung to him.
Michael looked away, giving them privacy.
Daniel whispered, “You can come.”
They left through a side entrance.
Forty-five minutes later, Daniel, Emily, Jonathan and Michael entered Fairfield Union Bank.
A senior manager escorted them into a secure conference room.
Jonathan presented the original key.
The manager checked the records.
His expression changed.
“Mr. Pierce, there was an attempted access yesterday.”
“We know.”
“The woman had a duplicate key, but the biometric verification failed.”
Daniel asked, “Did she identify herself?”
“She presented authorization claiming to act for Mr. Carter.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Do you have video?”
“Yes.”
The manager left.
Emily sat beside Daniel.
She had stopped crying, but she looked small inside the enormous leather chair.
Daniel gave her his jacket.
Five minutes later the manager returned with printed still images from security footage.
Rebecca appeared in the first.
Margaret appeared in the second.
Andrew Miles appeared in the third.
Daniel stared.
The manager said, “Mr. Miles entered separately approximately six minutes later.”
Jonathan asked, “Did he attempt access?”
“No. He spoke with the two women in the lobby. Then they left.”
Daniel called Andrew.
No answer.
He called again.
Still no answer.
Michael muttered, “That’s not good.”
Daniel opened a secure company application.
Andrew’s corporate phone location was unavailable.
Daniel called his office.
His executive assistant answered.
“Mr. Carter?”
“Where’s Andrew?”
“He left about an hour ago.”
“Did he say where?”
“No.”
“Did he take anything?”
A pause.
“His laptop.”
Daniel looked at Jonathan.
“Disable every account he has.”
Jonathan began making calls.
The bank manager led them through two locked corridors.
The deposit box was smaller than Daniel expected.
Laura had hidden four years of mystery inside something the size of a desk drawer.
Jonathan inserted his key.
Daniel turned the second lock.
The box opened.
Inside were three objects.
A small digital recorder.
A thick sealed envelope.
And a red notebook.
Daniel recognized the notebook.
Laura carried it during the Bellweather investigation.
She once joked that she trusted paper more than computers because paper could not be hacked.
Daniel lifted it carefully.
The first pages contained account numbers, dates and meeting notes.
Margaret Whitmore’s name appeared repeatedly.
So did another name.
Charles Miles.
Daniel stopped.
Andrew’s father.
Jonathan leaned closer.
“Charles Miles was Bellweather’s outside accountant.”
Daniel remembered.
Andrew had once mentioned his father worked in nonprofit finance.
He had never connected the names.
The sealed envelope contained copies of bank transfers.
Several moved money from Bellweather into shell corporations.
The corporations were linked to Charles Miles.
Some transfers carried Margaret’s approval.
Others did not.
Daniel began to understand.
Margaret had participated.
But Andrew’s father had apparently taken far more.
Then Daniel found one final document.
A handwritten statement signed by Thomas Hayes.
Rebecca’s father.
Daniel read aloud.
I knew Margaret was helping Charles hide transfers. I begged her to stop. She believed the foundation executives would protect them.
When the investigation began, Charles convinced Margaret that Laura Carter was responsible for everything.
Laura was not.
Charles had been stealing before Margaret joined Bellweather.
Daniel looked toward Emily.
He lowered the paper.
Rebecca had built her hatred on a lie.
Maybe Margaret had too.
Jonathan picked up the recorder.
“Do you want to hear this?”
Daniel nodded.
Jonathan pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then Laura’s voice.
Weak.
Familiar.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Jonathan, if this recording is ever being heard, then Emily may be in danger from people connected to Bellweather.”
Emily stared at the device.
It was the first time she had heard her mother’s voice in years.
Laura continued.
“I do not believe Margaret Whitmore is the person most likely to pursue the money. She is angry, frightened and desperate, but Charles Miles is different.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“He has a son named Andrew.”
Michael swore under his breath.
Laura’s recorded voice continued.
“Andrew approached me twice after the investigation. He wanted access to the recovered asset structure. I refused.”
Daniel felt cold.
“He told me that one day the Carter family would repay what his father lost.”
The recording clicked.
Then Laura said one final thing.
“Daniel trusts Andrew. That is why I am afraid to tell him without proof.”
The recording ended.
No one spoke.
Daniel felt betrayed by the dead and the living at once.
Laura had tried to protect him.
Andrew had stayed beside him for eleven years.
Jonathan looked at the trust documents.
“If Andrew knew the investment structure, he may have known exactly how valuable Emily’s trust became.”
Michael asked, “So Rebecca was working with Andrew?”
“Maybe.”
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
“Or Andrew was working with Rebecca.”
His phone rang.
Andrew.
Daniel answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
Andrew’s voice was calm.
“You opened Laura’s box.”
Daniel looked at Jonathan.
“How do you know?”
“Because if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be calling me like this.”
“Where are you?”
“Daniel, I can explain.”
“Then start.”
Andrew sighed.
“Rebecca came to me six months ago.”
Emily looked up.
Daniel’s hand tightened around the phone.
“For what?”
“She wanted information about the trust.”
“And you gave it to her?”
“At first, no.”
“At first?”
Andrew was silent.
Daniel stood.
“Andrew.”
“She knew about my father.”
“So?”
“She had documents that could reopen everything.”
Jonathan frowned.
Daniel asked, “What documents?”
“Records proving my father moved money overseas.”
Daniel stared at the red notebook.
“Laura already knew.”
“No. Not all of it.”
Andrew’s breathing became audible.
“Rebecca threatened to turn everything over to federal investigators unless I helped her.”
“You helped her forge my signature?”
“No.”
“Did you help her access the trust?”
“I gave her information.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“That is accessing the trust.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You made six months of mistakes.”
Andrew suddenly said, “You don’t understand what she’s planning.”
Daniel froze.
“What is she planning?”
“She never wanted only Emily’s trust.”
Daniel looked at Jonathan.
Andrew continued.
“She wanted control of Carter Holdings.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Not if you signed the documents at the reception.”
Daniel remembered.
Rebecca had mentioned documents.
A new marital estate plan.
She had said they could sign after dinner because Jonathan would already be present.
Daniel had thought nothing of it.
“What documents?”
Andrew answered.
“The ones Margaret had drafted.”
Daniel’s stomach turned.
“They weren’t marital documents.”
“No.”
“What were they?”
Andrew hesitated.
Then he said it.
“A voting proxy.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“For my company?”
“For thirty-one percent of your personal shares.”
Daniel felt the room tilt.
Andrew continued quickly.
“Rebecca knew you never read documents carefully on emotional days. She planned to place the proxy inside the marital packet.”
Daniel nearly laughed.
Eleven years.
Andrew knew his habits.
He knew Daniel delegated paperwork.
He knew Daniel trusted Jonathan’s presence.
Rebecca had intended to use that trust against him.
“Where are you?”
“I’m leaving town.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“You’re going to give Jonathan everything.”
Andrew was quiet.
Then his tone changed.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Rebecca has the original ledger.”
Daniel looked at the red notebook.
“What original ledger?”
May you like
“Laura found two.”
The line went dead.
