Chapter 4 - The Account in Her Name
Brandon and Margaret were released before noon.
The police charged them with unlawful entry, property damage, and obstruction. Because no one had been physically injured and both had permanent addresses, the judge approved temporary release with strict orders forbidding them from approaching Olivia or any Northstar property.
Brandon’s attorney called the incident a marital misunderstanding.
By evening, three entertainment sites had published photographs from the gala.
MOTHER-IN-LAW REMOVED FROM CARTIER EVENT AFTER CARD DECLINED
SOCIETY MARRIAGE COLLAPSES OVER DIAMOND NECKLACE
WHO REALLY PAID FOR THE HALE FAMILY LIFESTYLE?
None of the reports mentioned corporate espionage.
David Mercer made certain of that.
“We need Brandon to believe the board is focused on the break-in,” he told Olivia. “If Roland thinks we discovered the larger operation, he will disappear.”
“He may already know.”
“Then we move faster.”
The Zurich account was held at a private bank operating through a maze of trusts. Access required a physical key, a biometric confirmation, and a phrase known only to the account’s beneficiary.
Olivia possessed none of them.
The bank had no online portal and refused to discuss the account by telephone.
All they could confirm was that the account had been opened in Olivia’s name when she was ten years old.
A deposit of forty million dollars had been made the following day.
No withdrawals had occurred for twenty-two years.
Rebecca placed the account summary on Olivia’s desk.
“Forty million in 2004 would be worth considerably more now, depending on the investments.”
“Who made the deposit?”
“The source is sealed.”
“Can the board compel disclosure?”
“Not without proving the funds belong to Northstar.”
Olivia studied the opening date.
October 17, 2004.
A memory surfaced.
That was the week her mother died.
The official account of Caroline Vale’s death was simple. Her car left a mountain road during a storm. Jonathan told Olivia that Caroline died instantly.
There had been no funeral viewing because the injuries were too severe.
Olivia had never questioned it.
Until now.
“Find everything from that week,” she said.
Rebecca hesitated.
“Everything concerning the bank?”
“Everything concerning my mother.”
That afternoon, Olivia returned to the damaged house with a private security escort.
The broken door had been covered with temporary steel. Fine wood dust still coated the foyer floor.
A technician collected the shattered lock while Olivia entered her father’s old study.
For years, the room had served as her private office. Jonathan’s shelves remained filled with books on engineering, economics, and history. His desk stood beneath the western windows.
Olivia searched it countless times after his death.
She found nothing unusual.
Now she looked differently.
Brandon had not broken into the house merely to regain financial control. He had demanded to search it.
Margaret said Olivia was hiding something.
What did they expect to find?
Olivia replayed the security footage.
Margaret searched the filing cabinets while Brandon focused on the desk. He photographed the Hearthstone schedule but also examined the underside of drawers and the frames of family photographs.
He was looking for a physical object.
The Zurich bank required a key.
Olivia removed each drawer from the desk.
Nothing.
She inspected the wooden panels.
One panel sounded slightly hollow when tapped.
A security technician scanned it and discovered a narrow cavity.
Inside lay a brass key no longer than Olivia’s little finger.
A tiny symbol had been engraved on the head.
A four-pointed star inside a circle.
Olivia had seen the same symbol once before.
It appeared on the gold bracelet her mother gave her.
She touched the bracelet on her wrist.
The symbols matched.
Her phone rang.
It was Rebecca.
“We found the original accident file.”
“And?”
“There are inconsistencies.”
Olivia sat down.
“What kind?”
“The police report says your mother’s vehicle was recovered from a ravine. But the vehicle identification number belongs to a car registered to someone else.”
“Who?”
“Elena Marrow.”
Olivia remembered the name from her father’s photograph.
Elena agreed to protect Olivia if I failed.
“Was Elena inside the car?”
“The remains were identified as Caroline Vale using dental records.”
“Then why was she driving Elena’s car?”
“We don’t know.”
Rebecca inhaled.
“There’s something else. Elena Marrow was declared dead three months later.”
“How?”
“House fire.”
“Was her body identified?”
“No body was recovered.”
Olivia looked at the brass key.
Two women.
Two deaths.
No reliable identification.
“Find Elena’s family.”
“We already started.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Olivia turned.
Her security guard appeared at the study entrance.
“Mrs. Hale, we found someone inside the service wing.”
Every muscle in Olivia’s body tightened.
“Who?”
“A woman. She says she worked for your father.”
The guard stepped aside.
An elderly woman entered slowly.
She wore a dark wool coat, sensible shoes, and a gray scarf tied beneath her chin. Her face was deeply lined, but her eyes were alert.
Olivia recognized those eyes.
They belonged to the unidentified woman in the childhood photograph.
“Elena?” Olivia whispered.
The woman looked at the bracelet on Olivia’s wrist.
“You still wear Caroline’s key.”
“This is a bracelet.”
“No,” Elena replied. “It is the first half of the key.”
Olivia held up the brass piece from the desk.
Elena’s expression filled with sorrow.
“And now you have the second.”
Olivia stepped toward her.
“My mother died.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“That is what Jonathan needed everyone to believe.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“Are you saying she survived the accident?”
“There was no accident.”
Elena reached into her coat and removed a sealed envelope bearing Jonathan Vale’s handwriting.
Olivia’s name was written across the front.
“Your father told me to deliver this only if a member of the Hale family entered your home by force.”
Olivia stared at her.
May you like
“Why would he predict that?”
“Because Brandon’s father tried the same thing thirty years ago.”
