Chapter 13 - the accusation against richard
Richard stared at the screen.
“I closed Hale Family Advisory twelve years ago.”
Maya checked the company registration.
“The name was reactivated eight years ago.”
“By whom?”
“The filing is protected through a nominee service.”
Sarah moved away from the desk.
“My mother’s note said to protect me from the Hales and the Mercers.”
“Sarah, I did not know the company still existed.”
“But Meridian used your company name.”
“Yes.”
“And Mom sent you emails about the investigation.”
“I never received them.”
“They are on the drive.”
“Her messages are there. My replies are not.”
“Maybe you deleted them.”
Richard’s face changed.
The accusation hurt him, but he did not become angry.
That made Sarah more uncertain.
“You should question me,” he said. “After what David did, you should question everyone.”
“Did Mom trust you?”
“Sometimes.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Our divorce was difficult. We disagreed about the foundation. But I never stole from her.”
“Did you know Emma was the contingency beneficiary?”
“No.”
“Did you know about the $9 million distribution?”
“I knew the trust made annual distributions. I did not know the amount.”
Maya searched the account records.
“The Hale account received a payment three months after Eleanor died.”
“How much?” Sarah asked.
“$760,000.”
Richard sat down.
“That payment never reached me.”
“Where were you three months after Mom died?”
“In Switzerland.”
Sarah remembered.
Richard had told her he was advising a bank on an internal fraud case.
“For work?”
“Yes.”
“Who hired you?”
Richard became silent.
“Dad.”
“A man named Adrian Vale.”
Maya typed the name into the database.
“Adrian Vale is listed as a former director of Meridian Stewardship.”
Sarah felt betrayed all over again.
“You worked for them.”
“I worked for a bank that Vale represented. I did not know Meridian existed.”
“Did Mom know?”
“She knew I took the assignment. She warned me not to trust him.”
“And you went anyway.”
“I believed she was allowing our personal history to influence her judgment.”
Sarah laughed bitterly.
“Just like everyone said about me.”
Richard lowered his head.
“Yes.”
The similarity was impossible to ignore.
Eleanor had discovered something.
People called her suspicious.
Richard had not believed her.
Years later, Sarah faced the same system.
“You left when she needed you,” Sarah said.
“I did.”
“Then she died.”
“Yes.”
“Was her death connected to Meridian?”
“I don’t know.”
It was the most frightening answer he could give.
Maya continued examining the files.
“I found something that may support Richard.”
She opened a payment authorization.
The electronic signature belonged to Hale Family Advisory, but the security certificate had been issued two years after the real company closed.
“The signature is false,” Maya said. “Someone copied Richard’s name the same way they copied Sarah’s.”
Sarah looked at her father.
“That does not prove you knew nothing.”
“No,” Richard said. “But I will give the police access to every account, email and record I have.”
“You could be arrested.”
“If that is what it takes to find the truth.”
The next morning, Richard voluntarily met with investigators.
He remained there for nine hours.
Sarah spent the day with Emma at a protected family residence recommended by the detective.
News of David’s arrest spread through the business community.
Mercer Development suspended him.
Northbridge’s assets were frozen.
The court issued a temporary protection order preventing David or Margaret from contacting Sarah and Emma.
By evening, Maya called.
“Richard has been released.”
“Was he cleared?”
“Not completely. But the payment trail does not lead to him.”
“Where does it lead?”
“To an account in Luxembourg.”
“Owned by whom?”
“We need an international order to find out.”
Sarah looked through the residence window.
A dark vehicle was parked across the street.
It had been there for twenty minutes.
“Sarah?” Maya said.
“Someone is watching the house.”
“Do not go outside.”
Sarah called the detective.
Officers approached the vehicle.
The driver left before they reached it.
The license plate was registered to a rental company.
An officer found an envelope on the pavement.
It was addressed to Sarah.
Inside was a single photograph.
It showed Emma leaving preschool three weeks earlier.
May you like
On the back, someone had written:
David was careless. We are not.
