Chapter 5 - THE DEAD MAN AT THE BANK
Graham refused to believe it.
“That's not my father.”
Theodore looked at him.
“You know it is.”
“No.”
“He had a scar above his left eyebrow.”
Graham stared at the photograph.
The scar was there.
Exactly where he remembered it.
“My father died eleven years ago.”
“That's what we were told.”
Amelia felt the same cold fear she had experienced before.
Everyone in this family had been lying about death.
First Margaret.
Now Graham's father.
She turned to Theodore.
“Where was the photograph taken?”
“Richmond Private Bank.”
“Why would he be there?”
“To access the Hale Trust.”
Amelia's heart raced.
“Can he?”
“Only if he has the sapphire.”
“And if he opens the trust?”
“He could redirect millions.”
Graham suddenly grabbed his coat.
“I'll find him.”
Amelia stopped him.
“You're not going alone.”
He looked at her.
“Why do you care?”
“Because if your father is alive, he may be behind everything.”
Theodore nodded.
“She is right.”
They drove to the bank.
The vault manager refused to speak.
Until Theodore showed his identification.
Then the man quietly admitted something.
“Mr. Hale was here yesterday.”
“Your father?”
Graham asked.
The manager nodded.
“He used the name Richard Morgan.”
Amelia froze.
“Richard Morgan?”
Celeste's father.
Theodore looked at her.
“This is worse than we thought.”
They entered the private records room.
A security photograph showed Graham's father meeting Celeste.
Graham stared.
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
“Celeste knew my father was alive.”
“Apparently.”
Another photograph showed Margaret.
Older.
Alive.
Amelia felt her heart pound.
“They're all working together.”
Theodore shook his head.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Look at their faces.”
The photographs showed fear.
Not cooperation.
Fear.
Someone was controlling them.
Then they found the final image.
A man sat at a table with Margaret and Graham's father.
His face was partially hidden.
But Amelia recognized the watch.
She had seen it at Theodore's estate.
She looked at Theodore.
“Who is that?”
He didn't answer.
“Mr. Hale?”
Theodore's hands trembled.
“That's my brother.”
“Your brother?”
“The man who supposedly died before Margaret disappeared.”
Amelia stared.
“There are two missing people.”
“No.”
Theodore corrected her.
“There are three.”
He pulled out an old family photograph.
A man stood behind Margaret.
His face had been scratched out.
“That was my younger brother.”
“What was his name?”
Theodore whispered:
“Samuel.”
Amelia felt a chill.
“Then who is controlling all of this?”
Theodore looked at the photograph.
“Samuel.”
Graham's father had betrayed Margaret.
Margaret had raised Celeste.
Celeste had manipulated Graham.
But Samuel had been hiding behind them all.
And the sapphire wasn't proof of an affair.
It was proof of a conspiracy.
The bank manager suddenly rushed into the room.
“Mr. Hale!”
“What?”
“We just received an emergency withdrawal request.”
“From whom?”
The manager swallowed.
“Amelia Hale.”
Everyone stared at Amelia.
She shook her head.
“I didn't request anything.”
The manager showed them the document.
Her signature appeared at the bottom.
Perfectly forged.
May you like
And beneath it was a transfer instruction.
ALL HALE TRUST ASSETS TO BE LIQUIDATED.
