Chapter 6 - THE HOUSEKEEPER WHO HAD BEEN KEEPING A SECRET
Mrs. Whitmore looked at the document for less than five seconds before she started crying.
I had never seen her cry.
She was the kind of woman who could organize a formal dinner for forty guests while simultaneously fixing a kitchen disaster and calming an angry billionaire.
Now she could barely hold the paper.
“Yes,” she whispered. “That's my signature.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“Explain.”
She took a shaky breath.
“Before I managed this household, I worked in the foundation's accounts department.”
“I know.”
“I approved legitimate payments to several medical facilities and family-assistance programs. Victor later reused my electronic authorization on transactions I never reviewed.”
Gabriel leaned forward.
“Why didn't you report it?”
“I tried.”
She looked toward me.
“Benjamin Hayes was the person who helped me identify the discrepancies.”
My stomach dropped.
“You knew my husband?”
She nodded.
“He was a good man.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
Mrs. Whitmore covered her face.
“Because I didn't know you were his Elena when you came here. Your employment application didn't mention your husband's name, and Hayes is hardly an uncommon surname.”
That was true.
I had deliberately left Benjamin's history out of my application because I feared Adrian would refuse to hire me.
But there was more.
Mrs. Whitmore admitted that Victor had threatened her after she questioned the foundation accounts.
He claimed she would be accused of approving fraudulent payments if she continued investigating.
Her son had recently suffered a serious injury, and she depended on her job and medical insurance.
She became frightened.
And she stopped asking questions.
“I've regretted it every day,” she whispered.
Adrian looked at her.
“You should have come to me.”
She met his eyes.
“Would you have believed me over Victor?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Neither did Gabriel.
For the first time, I realized how many people inside that mansion had been too frightened to tell Adrian the truth.
His power had not made him all-knowing.
It had made everyone afraid of disappointing him.
Then Mrs. Whitmore removed an envelope from her apron.
“I kept something.”
My pulse quickened.
“What?”
“Three months after Benjamin disappeared, I received an anonymous package containing a photograph.”
She placed it on the desk.
The image showed a man lying in a hospital bed.
He was thinner.
His hair was longer.
His face was bruised.
But I recognized him immediately.
Benjamin.
Alive.
My knees nearly gave out.
Then Mrs. Whitmore showed us the back.
A date.
Six months after his disappearance.
And a short message.
The accountant remembers everything.
Gabriel examined the photograph.
“Who sent this?”
“I never found out.”
Mrs. Whitmore looked at Adrian.
“I believed it was a warning to stay quiet.”
Then she added something that made my blood run cold.
“Victor came to see me the next day.”
“What did he say?” Adrian asked.
“He told me the foundation would continue paying the medical facility as long as nobody asked questions about Benjamin Hayes.”
I stared at her.
“You knew he was alive.”
“I believed he might be. But I couldn't confirm where he was, and I didn't know whether the photograph was current.”
I felt a terrible mixture of anger and pity.
Her silence had protected her family.
But it had helped keep mine in darkness.
Then Gabriel turned the photograph over again.
He noticed a small detail near the hospital bed.
An identification bracelet.
The patient's name was partly obscured.
But the final six digits of the medical record number were visible.
Gabriel compared them with the Hudson Valley records.
They matched.
The photograph was genuine.
Then Rachel's phone rang.
She listened silently.
Her expression changed.
“Elena, the independent investigators have obtained the transfer history for Daniel Ward.”
My heart started pounding.
“Where did they take him?”
Rachel took a breath.
“To a second care facility in Pennsylvania.”
“Is he still there?”
A long silence followed.
Then she said quietly:
“No. The facility recorded his death five years and four months ago.”
The world seemed to stop.
May you like
For one beautiful, terrible day, I had allowed myself to believe Benjamin might still be alive.
Now I was losing him all over again.
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