Chapter 6 - THE ACCIDENT THAT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT
Grace woke in the hospital the following morning.
Her scans ruled out an injury requiring emergency surgery, but she had sustained a concussion and needed continued observation.
When I entered her room, her first question was about Mia and Sophie.
"They're safe."
"Where?"
"At the mansion, with a caregiver you approve of. Luca can bring them whenever you're ready."
Grace relaxed slightly.
Then she looked at me.
"Am I still employed?"
The question hurt more the second time.
"Yes, if you want to be. But we need to talk about your wages and housing."
Her expression changed.
"Mr. Crane said the deductions were mandatory."
"They weren't authorized by me. We're reviewing them with independent employment counsel."
Grace looked away.
"I didn't know who to ask."
"That's something I should have made possible long before now."
She studied me, apparently surprised that I wasn't blaming her.
Then she opened the drawer beside her hospital bed and removed a small black phone.
"Daniel's old phone."
I looked at it.
"I thought it was destroyed in the accident."
"That's what I told Victor."
Her fingers tightened around the device.
"Daniel had started receiving threatening messages. He asked me to hide it if anything happened to him."
We gave the phone to investigators.
Its records contained several calls between Daniel and Victor during the week before the fatal collision.
There were also photographs of company invoices and documents concerning the Beatrice Carter trust.
Daniel had identified payments being made to nonexistent beneficiaries and contractors with connections to Graham.
The amounts were substantial.
Enough to suggest a long-running financial scheme.
Then we found an audio message Daniel had recorded the night before he died.
His voice filled the hospital room.
"Grace, if you're hearing this, I need you to contact an attorney outside the company."
Grace covered her mouth.
"I've found evidence that Graham is moving trust money through the same businesses that handle our employee-benefit accounts."
The recording paused.
Then Daniel continued.
"I told Victor because he said he'd bring the evidence directly to Roman."
I closed my eyes.
Victor had not helped him.
He had warned Graham.
Daniel's voice became strained.
"I'm meeting Victor tomorrow. He says he has the original authorization records."
The recording ended.
I sat motionless.
The following day, Daniel's car had been struck by a commercial vehicle on a quiet road outside Boston.
The driver claimed he lost control.
Daniel died before paramedics could get him to the hospital.
At the time, there hadn't been enough evidence to establish that the collision was deliberate.
Now we had reason to reopen that question.
I asked Luca to give the recordings and financial evidence to the investigators handling the case.
Then I turned toward Grace.
"I'll make sure you have independent legal assistance."
She stared at me.
"You don't have to pay for a lawyer."
"This isn't about paying for your loyalty. You need someone whose job is to represent you, not me."
For a moment, she said nothing.
Then her eyes filled.
"Daniel would have liked that."
I looked toward his phone.
I had signed a letter after his death saying Carter Logistics valued his contribution.
I hadn't understood what that contribution had cost him.
Later that afternoon, investigators located the company responsible for the vehicle that struck Daniel's car.
It had been dissolved shortly after the accident.
But its final ownership records revealed a payment from one of Graham Vale's shell companies.
The transaction alone did not establish that Graham ordered Daniel's death.
It was, however, another financial link demanding investigation.
Then Luca uncovered a second document.
A trust-management resolution dated thirteen years earlier, when I was twenty-five.
According to the document, I had become a co-trustee of my mother's charitable fund.
I stared at my supposed signature.
May you like
I had been legally named to a position carrying serious responsibilities without understanding that the appointment had even occurred.
And for the past thirteen years, Graham had been conducting transactions under the appearance of my authority.
