Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO KNEW CLAIRE
By sunrise, Victor Hale had a lawyer.
By eight, he had stopped talking.
By nine, he denied kidnapping Lucas.
Arthur nearly laughed when Daniel told him.
“He was standing inside the warehouse.”
“He claims he came to buy a stolen financial ledger.”
“With my kidnapped son twenty feet above him?”
“He says he didn't know Lucas would be there.”
“That's insane.”
“It's also difficult to disprove without the second man.”
Arthur paced Daniel's office.
“What about Elena?”
“Police are interviewing her again.”
“And?”
“She says Victor became obsessed with Lucas's trust after she mentioned it.”
Arthur stopped.
“She admitted discussing the trust with a convicted fraudster?”
“She called it investment advice.”
Arthur stared.
“How stupid does she think everyone is?”
“Desperation makes people creative.”
Daniel's computer chimed.
He opened an email.
“Here.”
“What?”
“Claire's flash drive.”
Daniel had copied its contents to an isolated machine.
Arthur sat beside him.
Folders filled the screen.
BANK.
INVOICES.
TRUST.
VMH.
And one labeled BELL.
Daniel opened it.
A scanned employee profile appeared.
SARAH BELL.
Senior Internal Auditor.
Vance Meridian Holdings.
Arthur stared.
“I remember her.”
“From when?”
“Years ago.”
“What happened to her?”
Arthur searched his memory.
“She resigned.”
“When?”
“Right before Claire died.”
Daniel's eyebrows rose.
“That's convenient.”
Arthur didn't answer.
Sarah Bell had been quiet.
Brilliant.
The kind of employee who would walk into a boardroom with bad news even when everyone else wanted comfortable lies.
Arthur had liked her.
His father had not.
Richard used to call Sarah “the bloodhound.”
Arthur opened another file.
It was an email from Sarah to Claire.
CLAIRE,
THE ACCOUNTS YOU ASKED ABOUT ARE NOT ACCOUNTING ERRORS.
SOMEONE IS ROUTING PAYMENTS THROUGH VENDOR ENTITIES THAT DO NOT EXIST.
I HAVE TRACED THREE TO RICHARD'S OFFICE, BUT I CANNOT DETERMINE WHO IS USING HIS CREDENTIALS.
DO NOT CONFRONT ANYONE YET.
WE NEED PROOF.
S.B.
Arthur leaned back.
“My father knew.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not necessarily.”
“The payments traced to his office.”
“Credentials trace to machines and accounts.”
Daniel pointed to the screen.
“Not always people.”
Arthur opened the next email.
This one was dated five days before Claire died.
CLAIRE,
I WAS FOLLOWED HOME.
SOMEONE ENTERED MY APARTMENT.
THE PAPER FILE IS SAFE.
I AM LEAVING BOSTON TONIGHT.
DO NOT CALL ME.
DO NOT TRUST HAROLD.
Arthur stared at the final sentence.
Daniel cursed softly.
“Claire's note at the grave said if Harold betrays Lucas, find Sarah.”
“So Sarah knew what Harold was doing.”
“Maybe.”
They searched public records.
Sarah Bell appeared nowhere recent.
No current employment.
No property.
No social media.
No driver's license attached to her old Massachusetts address.
Daniel leaned back.
“She vanished.”
Arthur looked again at the old employee photograph.
There had to be a way.
“Payroll.”
“What?”
“Emergency contact.”
Daniel searched the archived HR database.
Sarah's emergency contact listed an older sister.
Margaret Bell Donnelly.
Portland, Maine.
Two hours later, Arthur was driving north.
Daniel objected.
Police objected.
Maria objected most strongly.
“Lucas was kidnapped yesterday.”
“I know.”
“Then maybe don't drive across two states.”
“Security is staying with him.”
“That isn't the point.”
Arthur looked at her.
“What is?”
“You are acting like being scared gives you permission to become reckless.”
Arthur almost snapped back.
Then stopped.
No one talked to him like that.
Not employees.
Not lawyers.
Not board members.
Maria did.
And annoyingly, she was right.
He lowered his voice.
“Claire tried to tell me something six years ago.”
“You didn't know.”
“She told me she thought company records were wrong.”
Maria stared.
Arthur had never said that aloud.
“Two weeks before she died.”
“What did you say?”
Arthur looked away.
“I told her she was exhausted from treatment.”
Maria didn't answer.
“She said people were hiding things.”
His throat tightened.
“I told her she needed rest.”
“Arthur.”
He looked at her.
It was the first time she had used his first name.
“You believed she was sick.”
“She was sick.”
“You didn't know she was right.”
“I should have listened.”
“Yes.”
The word surprised him.
Maria didn't soften it.
“You should have.”
Arthur nodded.
Then Maria continued.
“But regretting that doesn't mean you get to abandon Lucas emotionally while trying to fix something that happened six years ago.”
Arthur looked through the glass doors.
Lucas sat at the kitchen table with a security guard nearby.
He was drawing.
Arthur had assumed going to Maine was protecting him.
Maybe Lucas would see it differently.
Arthur walked into the kitchen.
“Buddy?”
Lucas looked up.
“Are you leaving?”
Arthur hesitated.
“I need to find someone who knew your mom.”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
Lucas stared at his drawing.
“Do you have to?”
Arthur sat beside him.
“No.”
Lucas looked surprised.
Arthur was too.
He realized how rarely he said that.
No, I don't have to work.
No, I don't have to take the call.
No, I don't have to leave.
He reached for his phone.
“Daniel can go.”
Lucas smiled slightly.
“Okay.”
Arthur stayed.
That afternoon, Lucas asked to see Claire's letter.
Arthur hesitated, then read only the harmless parts.
When he finished, Lucas asked.
“Was Mom scared?”
Arthur swallowed.
“Probably.”
“Did you protect her?”
The question pierced him.
“I tried.”
Lucas looked at him.
“But you didn't know.”
Arthur nodded.
“No.”
Lucas took his hand.
“Then how could you?”
Arthur looked down.
His eight-year-old son had given him more forgiveness in one sentence than Arthur had given himself in six years.
That night, Daniel called from Maine.
“I found Margaret Donnelly.”
Arthur stood.
“And Sarah?”
“Alive.”
Arthur stopped breathing.
“Where?”
“Margaret wouldn't say at first.”
“At first?”
“She changed her mind after I showed her Claire's letter.”
Arthur gripped the phone.
“Where is Sarah?”
“A town called Maple Crossing in Vermont.”
“Address?”
“I have it.”
Arthur turned toward the stairs.
“I'll leave now.”
“No.”
Daniel's voice sharpened.
“Why?”
“Because someone else got here first.”
Arthur froze.
“What happened?”
“Margaret's house was broken into while we were talking at the police station.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“No.”
“But?”
“They took one thing.”
Arthur waited.
“An old photograph album.”
Arthur frowned.
“Why would anyone want family photographs?”
Daniel was silent for a moment.
“Because Sarah isn't living under the name Sarah Bell anymore.”
Arthur understood.
The photographs could identify her.
“What's her name now?”
“Rebecca Cole.”
Arthur repeated it.
Then felt another chill.
He had heard that name recently.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“Rebecca Cole is familiar.”
“You know her?”
Arthur opened his email.
He searched.
One result appeared from four days earlier.
Garrison North merger review committee.
Outside forensic consultant.
Rebecca Cole.
Arthur stared at the screen.
Sarah Bell hadn't disappeared.
She had spent years hiding.
May you like
And somehow, just days before the theft from Lucas's trust, she had returned directly into Arthur's business.
Under another name.
