Chapter 6 - THE WITNESS WHO DISAPPEARED
Victoria had just admitted knowing my father was investigating something.
And she had done it with a smile.
I stood beside my car, watching her SUV disappear into traffic.
My hands were trembling.
Not from fear.
From anger.
For seven months, I'd watched that woman cry into my husband's shoulder.
I'd listened to Ethan tell me she was vulnerable.
That she needed patience.
Understanding.
Support.
Now I was beginning to see how easily those tears could hide something else.
I called Samuel.
He answered immediately.
"Claire?"
"Victoria knows about Dad's investigation."
There was a pause.
"What exactly did she say?"
I repeated her words.
Samuel went silent.
Then he said, "We need to document that."
I looked toward the street.
"Samuel, I think she's involved."
"Possibly. But let's establish it through evidence."
I agreed.
The following morning, Samuel arranged a meeting with Rebecca Lawson, the accountant who had helped Dad review the suspicious transactions.
Rebecca was thirty-six, with short brown hair and nervous eyes.
She arrived carrying a laptop and a thick folder.
Before sitting, she checked the conference room door twice.
"Are we alone?"
Samuel nodded.
"Yes."
Rebecca looked at me.
"Your father was a good man, Claire."
My throat tightened.
"Thank you."
"He was the only person who took my concerns seriously."
"What concerns?"
She opened her laptop.
"Northstar Development Services was receiving payments from several Carter Holdings subsidiaries. Some invoices appeared to duplicate earlier work."
I leaned forward.
"Who approved them?"
"Most were routed through Elliot Crane's financial authorization team."
"And Victoria?"
Rebecca opened another spreadsheet.
"Several transfers eventually reached companies connected to her."
My stomach tightened.
"Why?"
"That's what Robert wanted to know."
Rebecca swallowed.
"Then we found something worse."
I stared.
"What?"
"Money wasn't the only thing being moved."
She opened a second file.
It contained property records.
Several parcels of land had been transferred between related entities.
The transactions involved buildings in older Chicago neighborhoods.
Places where working families had lived for decades.
Rebecca pointed toward one address.
"Your father helped renovate this apartment building twenty years ago."
I recognized it.
Dad used to drive past and tell me how proud he was of the work.
"Why is it in the file?"
"Because Carter Holdings purchased it through an intermediary and later approved a redevelopment plan."
"That's legal, isn't it?"
"It can be. But the documents include questionable safety assessments and unusually low valuations."
I felt cold.
"People still live there."
Rebecca nodded.
"Yes."
She opened an inspection report.
It claimed the building was structurally unsafe.
But another report, prepared only weeks earlier, reached a different conclusion.
My heart pounded.
"Someone changed the findings?"
"That's what we're investigating."
Samuel leaned forward.
"Who ordered the reassessment?"
Rebecca hesitated.
"Elliot Crane."
I closed my eyes.
My father had discovered more than stolen money.
He'd uncovered a scheme that could force families out of their homes.
Then Rebecca reached into her bag.
"There's something else."
She removed a flash drive.
"Robert asked me to keep this separate from the financial records."
"What is it?"
"Security footage from the parking garage where he met Ethan."
My breath caught.
Samuel connected the drive to an isolated computer.
The video appeared.
Dad stood beside his car.
Ethan approached.
They argued.
My father handed him a folder.
Ethan looked upset.
Then walked away.
A few minutes later, another vehicle entered the garage.
A silver SUV.
The driver stepped out.
Rebecca paused the recording.
I recognized the man immediately.
Elliot Crane.
He approached Dad.
They spoke.
Then Elliot leaned toward my father's car.
The camera angle didn't show exactly what he did.
But he remained beside the passenger-side door for almost a minute.
My heart began pounding.
Rebecca whispered, "We believe he may have interfered with the vehicle."
Samuel immediately cautioned that the footage didn't establish that conclusion.
Then another figure appeared.
A woman wearing a pale coat.
Victoria Hale.
She stood near the elevator, watching.
May you like
And the final frame showed something that made my entire body go cold.
Victoria handed Elliot a small black device before my father drove away.
