Chapter 10 - The Price of Saving Richard
The family returned to Evelyn’s house under police supervision.
No one wanted to be alone.
Claire sat in the dining room where the checks had first been distributed. The table had been cleared, but a stain remained in the white tablecloth where Melissa’s check had landed in the mashed potatoes.
Three nights earlier, the scene had seemed ridiculous.
Now two people were missing and one was dead.
Daniel stood near the fireplace.
“You should give Thomas the check.”
Claire looked at him.
“He kidnapped my father.”
“Exactly.”
“He also said the check can stop the merger.”
“Companies can be rebuilt. Dad can’t.”
Anna spoke from the window.
“Thomas does not intend to release Richard.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know Thomas.”
“So does Grandma, and she married him.”
Anna turned.
“Evelyn spent most of her life trying to survive that marriage.”
Vivian sat at the table with Stephen.
“What happens if Sentinel Crown gets Bennett Meridian?”
Owen answered.
“Thousands of jobs may disappear. They’ll divide the properties and sell the assets.”
Stephen rubbed his face.
“And our shares?”
“Probably diluted or challenged.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“There it is. We are all pretending this is about justice, but everyone is counting money.”
Claire removed the check from its protective sleeve.
The paper looked ordinary.
“What would Grandma do?”
Anna answered.
“She would refuse Thomas.”
“And let Richard die?”
“She might believe Richard created the danger himself.”
Claire looked toward the portrait above the fireplace.
Thomas stood behind Evelyn with one hand on her shoulder. Richard and Vivian were children. Stephen was a baby.
Even in the portrait, Evelyn seemed to be waiting for permission to move.
Claire’s phone rang.
This time it was Jonathan Hale.
“The bank’s forensic team confirmed Thomas’s statement,” he said. “Your check contains a microprinted authorization code.”
“What does it authorize?”
“Transfer of emergency voting rights to you.”
“Only mine?”
“Yes.”
“Then the other checks were truly gifts.”
“Each contained a different condition, but yours is unique.”
“Can the voting rights be activated without depositing the check?”
“No. You must endorse it and present it during the merger meeting.”
“Will I receive the five million?”
“Yes.”
“Can I use the money immediately?”
“After standard verification.”
Claire looked at the family.
“Can I write another check against the funds?”
“In principle.”
An idea began forming.
“Thomas wants the original because he needs to destroy the authorization.”
“Most likely.”
“What if he believes I’m giving it to him?”
Jonathan understood.
“You want to activate it at the meeting without his knowledge.”
“Yes.”
“That would require cooperation from the bank, the merger administrator and corporate counsel.”
“Benjamin can arrange it.”
“There is another complication.”
“What?”
“Richard filed an emergency injunction before disappearing.”
“Against me?”
“Against Evelyn. He claimed all checks were issued under undue influence.”
“When?”
“Christmas morning at nine twelve.”
Claire calculated the time.
“He filed before he reported Grandma missing.”
“Yes.”
“He knew she would disappear.”
“Or he knew she planned to.”
Claire called Detective Bell.
“Check whether my father met Malcolm before Christmas dinner.”
Bell answered cautiously.
“We are already reviewing his movements.”
“He may have known about Grandma’s fake kidnapping.”
“If Richard helped plan it, why would Thomas kidnap him?”
“Because Thomas believed Richard had Evelyn’s succession files.”
“Do you have evidence?”
“Not yet.”
Claire entered Evelyn’s study.
The room smelled faintly of lavender and old paper. She searched the desk, shelves and cabinets.
Inside a sewing basket, she found a bundle of torn check pieces.
Richard’s check.
He had placed the torn halves beneath Evelyn’s plate. Evelyn had collected them.
Claire arranged the pieces.
Along the back, the endorsement clause differed from hers.
Presentation of this instrument by Richard Thomas Bennett constitutes acknowledgment of outstanding obligations to the Rosebridge Trust.
Claire photographed the clause and sent it to Benjamin.
He called within minutes.
“This is extraordinary.”
“What does it mean?”
“Richard’s five-million-dollar payment was designed as a settlement credit.”
“For how much debt?”
“I need the full trust records.”
“Estimate.”
“At least two hundred million dollars.”
Claire stared at the torn check.
Her father had not merely destroyed a gift.
He had destroyed an opportunity to settle part of a secret debt.
Beneath the sewing basket was another letter.
This one was addressed to Richard.
Claire knew she should not open it.
She opened it.
Richard,
I know you believe Thomas has returned to help you complete the merger.
He has not returned for you.
He knows you stole from both of us.
When he is finished using you, he will sacrifice you as quickly as you sacrificed Anna.
I gave you the same chance I gave the others.
You may present the check, confess the debt and step away from Bennett Meridian.
Or you may destroy it and prove that your pride remains more important than your survival.
Evelyn
Claire folded the letter.
Richard had read it before Christmas dinner.
That explained why he tore the check but did not burn it.
He wanted the family to believe he rejected the gift.
Privately, he had probably intended to repair it.
A floorboard creaked.
Claire turned.
Melissa stood in the doorway.
“What did you find?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re becoming good at lying.”
“I learned from this family.”
Melissa entered.
“I found Grandma’s phone.”
Claire stood quickly.
“Where?”
“Inside the lining of her red cardigan.”
“The cardigan she wore at dinner?”
“Yes. It was hanging in the laundry room.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police?”
“Because there’s a message on it about me.”
“What message?”
Melissa handed Claire the phone.
A draft email was open.
It was addressed to Detective Bell.
The first paragraph described Melissa’s bribery of the university official.
The second described something far worse.
Melissa had transferred confidential Bennett Meridian tenant records to Sentinel Crown in exchange for money.
“You worked for Thomas,” Claire said.
“I didn’t know who owned Sentinel Crown.”
“You sold private information.”
“I had debts.”
“How much did they pay you?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
“And you laughed at a five-million-dollar check.”
Tears filled Melissa’s eyes.
“I made a mistake.”
“You made several.”
“I can help you.”
“How?”
Melissa unlocked a hidden messaging application.
“Sentinel Crown sends me instructions through this.”
A new message had arrived.
It contained the address of an abandoned hotel and a photograph of Richard tied to a chair.
The instruction read:
BRING CLAIRE’S CHECK AT MIDNIGHT.
COME ALONE OR RICHARD DIES.
Claire looked at the time.
Eleven fifteen.
Melissa gripped her arm.
“What are you going to do?”
May you like
Claire placed the original check inside her coat.
“I’m going to make Thomas believe he has already won.”
