Chapter 7 - The Blue Ledger
The next morning Claire went to her father’s house.
Not alone.
Rachel drove.
Claire left Lily with her closest friend, Hannah, whose home had security cameras, two dogs and no Bennetts.
Robert opened the door.
“What are you doing here?”
Claire walked past him.
“Where is Grandma’s blue ledger?”
Robert stopped.
Rachel noticed.
Claire did too.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do.”
Margaret appeared from the kitchen.
“What is she doing here?”
Claire held up her phone.
“I have Grandma’s recording.”
Margaret froze.
Robert recovered faster.
“What recording?”
Claire played it.
If Robert tells you I agreed, he’s lying.
The money was never for Vanessa.
Find the ledger.
Blue cover.
Robert knows where it is.
When it ended, the house was silent.
Margaret sat down.
Robert looked furious.
“Where did you get that?”
“Where is the ledger?”
“That woman was sick.”
Claire stepped forward.
“She knew your name.”
“She was medicated.”
“She knew Adrian Cole.”
Robert’s face changed.
Rachel said, “We found the trust loan.”
Robert looked at her.
“You had no right.”
Rachel’s eyebrows lifted.
“To public financial records?”
Margaret whispered, “Robert.”
Claire looked between them.
“What happened to four hundred fifty thousand dollars?”
Robert walked toward his office.
“Leave.”
Claire followed.
“I’ll find out anyway.”
He turned.
“For once in your life, stop thinking you know everything.”
“I know someone forged my identity.”
“This is bigger than you.”
“Then tell me.”
Robert stared at her.
And for the first time, Claire saw fear.
Not irritation.
Not embarrassment.
Fear.
“Your grandmother made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“She invested with someone she shouldn’t have.”
“Adrian?”
“No.”
“Then why did Adrian receive the money?”
Robert’s jaw worked.
“He was an intermediary.”
“For whom?”
Robert did not answer.
Claire stepped into his office.
She had spent childhood evenings there while her father balanced household accounts.
Dark shelves.
Old desk.
Locked cabinet.
Claire looked toward the bottom drawer.
Robert moved immediately.
“Don’t.”
Too immediate.
Claire reached.
Robert grabbed her wrist.
Rachel said sharply, “Mr. Bennett.”
Claire stared at her father’s hand.
Slowly, Robert released her.
Claire opened the drawer.
Empty.
But the dust showed a rectangular outline.
Something had been removed recently.
“A book?”
Robert said nothing.
Margaret whispered from the doorway, “Vanessa took it.”
Robert spun.
Margaret covered her mouth.
Claire looked at her mother.
“When?”
Margaret began crying.
“After the funeral.”
“Grandma’s funeral?”
“Yes.”
Seven years.
Vanessa had possessed the ledger seven years.
“Why?”
“She thought it showed money Dad owed her.”
Robert exploded.
“It showed nothing of the sort.”
Claire turned.
“So you’ve seen it.”
He realized the mistake.
Rachel said, “What did it show?”
Robert sat behind the desk.
Suddenly, he looked older than sixty-six.
“It showed payments.”
“To Adrian?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
Robert rubbed his face.
“Twenty years ago, your mother and I invested in a private fund.”
Margaret looked away.
“Grandma invested too?”
“Eventually.”
“What fund?”
Robert did not answer.
Claire said, “Was it illegal?”
“No.”
“Then why hide it?”
“Because later we learned the fund was being used to move money.”
Rachel asked, “Money laundering?”
Robert flinched.
Claire felt nauseous.
“Whose money?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I never knew.”
“Where does Vanessa fit?”
“She found records.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
“The ledger?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She threatened to expose everything unless your grandmother gave her money.”
Claire stared.
“Vanessa blackmailed Grandma?”
Margaret said quickly, “She was angry.”
Claire looked at her.
“You call blackmail anger?”
“She believed she was owed.”
Robert continued.
“Evelyn refused.”
“So Vanessa went to Adrian?”
Robert nodded once.
Claire pieced it together.
“Adrian got four hundred fifty thousand from Grandma’s trust.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To recover documents.”
“What documents?”
“Records proving the fund existed.”
Claire laughed without humor.
“You paid a disgraced finance broker nearly half a million dollars to recover evidence of money laundering?”
“He wasn’t disgraced then.”
Rachel asked, “Did he recover them?”
Robert looked at the empty drawer.
“No.”
“Then where did the money go?”
Robert said, “Vanessa.”
Claire stopped.
“What?”
“Adrian gave most of it to Vanessa.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Claire looked at her parents.
“So the two hundred thousand Vanessa inherited wasn’t the only money she got.”
“No.”
“How much?”
Robert whispered, “Three hundred thousand.”
Claire remembered the current debt.
Three hundred twelve thousand.
Almost exact.
Her stomach turned.
“Vanessa owes someone the same amount she stole seven years ago.”
Robert looked up.
“I told her not to touch that money.”
“Who was it supposed to go to?”
Silence.
Claire understood.
“Not Adrian.”
“No.”
“Who?”
Before Robert could answer, the front window shattered.
Rachel screamed.
Claire dropped behind the desk.
Something heavy struck the opposite wall.
Not a bullet.
A brick.
Wrapped around it was blue paper.
Robert stared.
Claire picked it up carefully.
May you like
Four words were written on the paper.
RETURN WHAT EVELYN STOLE.
