Chapter 6 - The Empty Building
Richardson Maritime headquarters occupied eleven floors overlooking the East River.
By midnight, most employees had been sent home.
Sienna and Kira entered with two federal investigators.
David was gone.
But someone had left a conference room projector running.
On the screen was an organizational chart.
Richardson Maritime.
Northstar Meridian.
Vantage Capital.
Seven shell companies.
And one name connecting all of them.
CARTER DEVELOPMENT TRUST.
Sienna stopped breathing for a moment.
"That's impossible."
Kira looked at her.
"What is it?"
"My grandmother's trust."
The investigators exchanged glances.
Sienna approached the screen.
Carter Development Trust had supposedly been dissolved after Margaret's death.
Yet the diagram showed transactions continuing for another seventeen years.
Millions had flowed through it.
Some entered Richardson Maritime.
Some entered Vantage.
Others disappeared offshore.
Kira whispered, "Someone kept the trust alive."
A sound came from the hallway.
Everyone turned.
One investigator drew his weapon.
"Stay here."
Footsteps.
Then a door slammed.
The investigators ran.
Sienna followed despite Kira's protest.
They reached a stairwell.
Empty.
But on the landing lay a phone.
David's.
The screen was cracked.
A video was paused.
Sienna pressed play.
David appeared.
He looked exhausted.
"Sienna, if you're watching this, the yacht operation failed."
Kira moved closer.
David continued.
"You think I betrayed you."
Sienna's jaw tightened.
"I did."
He looked directly into the camera.
"But not for the reason you think."
The video glitched.
"You were never supposed to discover Northstar this early."
Another glitch.
"Julian Richardson is not the architect."
Sienna exchanged a look with Kira.
"Neither is Charles."
The screen flickered.
"Eleanor knows more than she admits, but even she doesn't understand what the Carter Trust actually was."
David leaned closer.
"If you want the truth about Vantage, find the original beneficiary ledger."
"Where?" Sienna whispered.
As though answering her, David said:
"Your grandmother hid it where nobody in finance would ever search."
The video ended.
No location.
No explanation.
Then Kira noticed something.
The final frame contained a reflection.
A church window.
Sienna recognized it immediately.
May you like
St. Augustine's.
The church where Margaret Carter had been buried.
