Chapter 3 - CLAIRE'S RED BOOK
Arthur had not entered Claire's sitting room in eleven months.
He told himself it was because the room had no practical purpose.
That wasn't true.
The truth was simpler.
Some doors hurt more when opened.
Claire had chosen the room herself after they bought the house.
Tall windows.
Cream walls.
A narrow fireplace.
A built-in bookcase facing the gardens.
During chemotherapy, she spent hours there while Lucas played on the rug.
After her death, Arthur left almost everything untouched.
Elena hated that.
She called it a shrine.
Arthur called it none of her business.
Now the door stood open.
The room had been searched.
Not casually.
Professionally.
Books had been moved and replaced in the wrong order.
One drawer contained scratches beside the lock.
The underside of Claire's antique desk showed fresh tool marks.
Daniel crouched near the bookcase.
“Someone knew what they were looking for.”
Arthur checked the shelves.
“What red book?”
Lucas stood in the doorway beside Maria.
“I don't know.”
Arthur turned.
“Buddy, you don't have to help with this.”
“I want to.”
Maria put a hand gently on the boy's shoulder.
“Maybe we should let your dad and Mr. Kerr look first.”
Lucas frowned.
“But it was Mom's.”
Arthur's chest tightened.
“Okay.”
He sat beside him.
“Tell me exactly what you heard.”
Lucas concentrated.
“Elena said, ‘It has to be here.’”
“And Victor?”
“He said, ‘Claire didn't trust Arthur enough to leave it with him.’”
The words hit harder than Arthur expected.
Claire didn't trust Arthur.
Daniel looked away.
Maria said nothing.
Arthur forced himself to focus.
“Anything else?”
Lucas nodded.
“He said, ‘If the bank sees it, we're finished.’”
Arthur looked at Daniel.
“Bank.”
Daniel stood.
“So the red book may relate to the trust.”
“Or whatever they used to steal from it.”
Arthur walked to Claire's desk.
He opened each drawer.
Nothing.
Maria moved toward the bookcase.
“What did Mrs. Vance like to read?”
Arthur looked at her.
“Everything.”
“Did she journal?”
“Sometimes.”
“What color were her journals?”
Arthur thought.
“Blue.”
“Never red?”
“Not that I remember.”
Maria studied the shelves.
“Maybe ‘red book’ doesn't mean a red notebook.”
Daniel nodded.
“Could be a ledger.”
That word made Arthur turn.
Claire had owned twenty-two percent of Vance Meridian Holdings when she died.
Those shares had passed into a separate trust for Lucas.
Elena had always resented that too.
Between the inheritance trust and the company shares, Lucas would eventually control assets worth far more than the money currently missing.
Arthur suddenly understood something.
“This isn't about four point eight million.”
Daniel looked at him.
“No.”
“Elena could've tried to access the trust years ago.”
“Correct.”
“Why now?”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Because of the merger.”
Arthur's mind raced.
Vance Meridian was preparing to combine with Garrison North Logistics.
If completed, company valuation would nearly double.
Lucas's inherited shares would become extraordinarily valuable.
Arthur looked at Daniel.
“Someone isn't stealing cash.”
“They're positioning themselves.”
“For what?”
“Control.”
The answer came from Maria.
Arthur turned toward her.
She looked uneasy.
“If Elena somehow gained authority over Lucas's trust and his shares while he's a minor, she could vote those shares.”
Daniel stared at her.
“She's right.”
Arthur's blood went cold.
The merger required approval from seventy percent of voting shares.
Arthur controlled forty-one percent.
Lucas's trust controlled twenty-two.
Together, they had always made outside takeover impossible.
But if someone controlled Lucas's voting rights...
Arthur whispered.
“They could remove me.”
Daniel nodded.
“And control the company.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Officer Morris entered.
“Mr. Vance?”
Arthur stepped toward her.
“What did you find?”
“We haven't completed the forensic review, but there's something you should see.”
She handed him a printed photograph.
It showed Elena's laptop open inside the evidence room.
On the screen was an email recovered from temporary cache.
The message had been sent to an encrypted address.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
A second line read:
PHASE TWO BEGINS ONCE A.V. IS DECLARED UNAVAILABLE.
Arthur read it twice.
“What does unavailable mean?”
Officer Morris answered carefully.
“We don't know.”
Maria looked toward Lucas.
Arthur did too.
A bad feeling crawled up his spine.
Daniel took the paper.
“If Elena's goal was temporary trust control, Arthur only had to be unavailable legally.”
“Incapacitated?”
“Potentially.”
“Dead?”
Daniel didn't answer.
He didn't have to.
Arthur looked across the room.
For years, he'd thought his biggest mistake was working too much.
Now he wondered whether his real mistake had been inviting someone dangerous into the center of his family.
“Where is Elena?”
Officer Morris sighed.
“Her attorney demanded she be allowed to leave.”
Arthur's head snapped toward her.
“You let her go?”
“We do not currently have probable cause to arrest her for the transfer.”
“The papers were in my house.”
“That proves they were in the house.”
“She had Maria's phone.”
“Not illegal by itself.”
“She lied about the laptop.”
“Also not enough.”
Arthur cursed.
“She cannot stay here.”
“That is a civil matter.”
Daniel nodded.
“I'll file for an emergency protective order tonight.”
Arthur stared at the empty doorway.
“Where did she go?”
“She wouldn't say.”
Arthur took out his phone.
Elena's location sharing had been disabled.
Of course.
Then another thought hit him.
“Her car.”
Officer Morris frowned.
“What about it?”
“There's a GPS security system.”
Arthur opened the app.
The vehicle had stopped moving twelve minutes earlier.
A location appeared.
Briar Hill Memorial Cemetery.
Arthur stopped breathing.
Claire was buried there.
Twenty minutes later, Arthur's SUV tore through the cemetery gates.
Daniel sat beside him.
A patrol vehicle followed.
Arthur parked badly and ran.
Claire's grave was near the eastern wall beneath two maple trees.
He saw Elena from fifty yards away.
She wasn't alone.
Victor Hale stood beside her.
Arthur had never met the man, but he recognized him immediately from the old court photograph Daniel had pulled up on the drive.
Victor was tall.
Gray at the temples.
Expensive coat.
The kind of man who looked respectable until you studied his eyes.
They were standing beside Claire's grave.
Elena held a small shovel.
Arthur's stomach twisted.
“Get away from her grave!”
Both turned.
Victor ran.
A police officer went after him.
Elena didn't move.
Arthur reached her.
“What are you doing?”
She looked almost amused.
“You really should have listened to your first wife more carefully.”
Arthur grabbed the shovel from her hand.
Daniel arrived behind him.
Fresh soil had been disturbed beside the headstone.
Arthur dropped to his knees.
“What did you bury?”
Elena laughed.
“We weren't burying anything.”
Arthur stared at her.
Then began digging with his hands.
Daniel helped.
Several inches below the surface, Arthur's fingers struck metal.
He uncovered a small waterproof container.
Elena lunged.
Daniel blocked her.
Arthur opened it.
Empty.
Except for a folded plastic sleeve.
Inside was an old photograph.
Claire stood in the garden with baby Lucas.
Beside her was Harold Wynn, the attorney who had created the trust.
On the back, written in Claire's handwriting, were seven words.
IF HAROLD BETRAYS LUCAS, FIND SARAH BELL.
Arthur stared at the message.
Daniel leaned closer.
“Who's Sarah Bell?”
Arthur shook his head.
“I've never heard the name.”
Elena had stopped fighting.
And that frightened Arthur more than if she'd continued.
Because she was smiling again.
“You're still behind.”
Arthur looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Claire expected someone to betray her.”
Elena stepped closer.
“But she guessed the wrong person.”
Arthur felt a vibration in his pocket.
His home security app.
FRONT ENTRY OPENED.
He stared at the alert.
No one should have been entering the house.
Maria and Lucas were there with two security guards.
Arthur called Maria.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
A third time.
The call connected.
But Maria didn't speak.
Arthur heard breathing.
Then a crash.
Then Lucas screamed.
May you like
The line went dead.
Arthur ran.
