Chapter 10 - The Dead Man's Account
Sienna returned to Vantage and ordered every historical Carter Trust account reconstructed.
It took thirty-six hours.
At 2:13 a.m., an analyst found something.
A dormant Swiss account.
Opened under Thomas Carter's name.
Active for twenty-four years.
Small transfers occurred annually.
Always on August 17.
Sienna's birthday.
One dollar.
Exactly.
Kira stared at the transaction history.
"That's not money."
"It's a signal."
"To whom?"
Sienna already knew.
"Me."
Every birthday since her father's disappearance, someone had sent one dollar into an account connected to her inheritance.
A message hidden inside financial noise.
I am alive.
Or perhaps:
I was alive.
The most recent transfer had occurred eleven months earlier.
Sienna pulled the transaction origin.
Panama.
Then Singapore.
Then London.
Finally the chain ended at a small private bank in Boston.
The authorization identifier contained eight digits.
Sienna recognized them.
Her childhood home phone number.
Kira whispered, "Jesus."
Sienna's phone rang.
Unknown caller.
She answered.
Silence.
Then breathing.
"Who is this?"
A man's voice.
Older.
Quiet.
"Sienna."
Her entire body went rigid.
Nobody had called her name that way since childhood.
The voice continued.
"You opened Margaret's ledger."
"Who are you?"
"You already know."
Her eyes filled despite every effort to stop them.
"My father is dead."
A pause.
"That's what I needed you to believe."
Sienna stood.
Kira stared at her.
"Where are you?"
"Not safe."
"Why now?"
"Because Julian activated Meridian."
Sienna looked through the glass wall toward the city.
"What does that mean?"
"It means the Richardson foreclosure wasn't an accident."
"David planned it?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Another pause.
"The person who controls Vantage."
Sienna's voice hardened.
"I control Vantage."
The man on the phone whispered:
"No, sweetheart."
A sound came through the line.
A door opening.
Then his voice became urgent.
May you like
"You only control the part they wanted you to see."
The call disconnected.
