Chapter 3 - DANIEL WAS NEVER IN LONDON
Daniel Vance’s assistant answered on the sixth call.
Her name was Rebecca Stone.
Sarah had met her dozens of times.
Usually confident and efficient, Rebecca now sounded frightened.
“Sarah?”
“Where is Daniel?”
Silence.
“Rebecca.”
“I was told he was with you.”
Sarah stared at Arthur.
“What?”
“He canceled the London extension.”
“He flew back Tuesday.”
Tuesday.
Two days earlier.
Sarah felt the hospital room tilt.
“Where did he go after landing?”
“I don’t know.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“He always has a driver.”
“He dismissed the company car.”
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“He said he needed to handle something privately before going home.”
“What?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
Arthur leaned closer to the phone.
“Ms. Stone, this is Arthur Bennett.”
“Did Mr. Daniel seem worried?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Yes.”
Sarah’s pulse increased.
“About what?”
“There was an audit.”
Arthur and Sarah exchanged a look.
“What audit?”
“Daniel had been reviewing transactions from the Vance Foundation.”
“He found transfers he couldn’t explain.”
“How much?”
Rebecca did not answer immediately.
“Nearly eleven million dollars.”
Sarah sat completely still.
The Vance Foundation funded children’s hospitals, shelters, and education programs.
Eleanor had chaired it for seventeen years.
Daniel had joined the board after his father died.
“Did he think Eleanor was responsible?”
“I don’t know.”
Rebecca whispered the next sentence.
“But the day before Daniel returned, he told me not to send any files to his mother.”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
Rebecca continued.
“He also asked me to prepare copies of several trust documents.”
“What trust documents?”
“The Vance family trust.”
Sarah looked at her stomach.
Daniel had mentioned changes to the trust after their baby was born.
She had never asked details.
Money had always been something she avoided discussing with the Vances.
Now she regretted that.
Rebecca took a shaky breath.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Daniel told me that if he didn’t call me by Wednesday morning, I was supposed to give a folder to Sarah.”
Sarah looked at the clock.
It was Thursday.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because Eleanor called me Wednesday.”
Arthur’s expression darkened.
“What did she say?”
“She said Daniel had changed his mind.”
“She knew about the folder?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“Where is it?”
Rebecca went silent again.
Then she whispered, “Not at the office.”
“Where?”
“I moved it after Eleanor called.”
“Tell me.”
“Daniel’s old apartment.”
Sarah knew the place.
Daniel had kept a small apartment downtown after they married because it was closer to the company headquarters.
They rarely used it.
Rebecca gave Arthur the access code.
“Please be careful.”
The call ended.
Detective Reed returned twenty minutes later.
Sarah told him everything.
The missing money.
Daniel’s unexpected return.
The folder.
Reed listened without interruption.
Then he asked, “When did you last personally speak to your husband?”
“Tuesday morning.”
“Before he flew back?”
“I thought he was still in London.”
“What did he say?”
Sarah remembered the call.
Daniel had sounded distracted.
He asked about the baby.
He told her he loved her.
Then he said something Sarah had almost forgotten.
“If Mom asks about the foundation dinner, tell her I haven’t decided.”
At the time Sarah thought he meant whether he would attend.
Now she was not sure.
Reed requested Daniel’s phone records and airport footage.
Then he told Sarah something she did not want to hear.
“Until we locate your husband, I recommend you not return to the Vance estate.”
Sarah looked at Arthur.
He nodded.
“I agree.”
“But all my things are there.”
“They can be collected later.”
Sarah thought about the nursery.
Her clothes.
The baby crib Daniel had assembled himself.
Her life was inside that house.
But so was Eleanor.
Arthur left the hospital shortly before sunset.
He told Sarah he would not return to the mansion.
Instead he drove downtown to Daniel’s old apartment.
He parked one block away.
Before exiting his car, he checked the mirrors.
No one appeared to be following him.
The building’s doorman recognized him.
“Mr. Bennett.”
“I need access to Mr. Vance’s apartment.”
The man hesitated.
“Someone was already there today.”
Arthur stopped.
“Who?”
“Mrs. Eleanor Vance.”
Arthur felt a chill.
“What time?”
“Around noon.”
“Was she alone?”
“No.”
“A man came with her.”
“Who?”
“I hadn’t seen him before.”
“Tall.”
“Gray suit.”
“Scar beside his left ear.”
Arthur knew almost every professional who worked for the Vance family.
The description meant nothing.
He took the elevator upstairs.
The apartment door showed no visible damage.
Rebecca’s code worked.
Inside, everything appeared normal.
Almost.
Daniel’s desk drawers were open.
A framed photograph lay facedown.
Two cabinets had been emptied.
Someone had searched the apartment.
Arthur walked carefully through the rooms.
No folder.
He called Rebecca.
“It’s gone.”
Her voice dropped.
“That’s impossible.”
“Where did you leave it?”
“In the kitchen freezer.”
Arthur stared toward the kitchen.
“The freezer?”
“Daniel told me years ago that nobody in his family ever cooks.”
“He said if I ever needed to hide something from Eleanor, put it somewhere she considered beneath her.”
Arthur almost smiled.
He opened the freezer.
Ice trays.
Frozen dinners.
A box of peas.
Nothing else.
He moved the food.
At the back he found an empty space.
The folder had been removed.
Arthur was about to close the freezer when he noticed something beneath the vegetable drawer.
A flash drive.
Small.
Black.
Taped underneath.
He carefully removed it.
Rebecca inhaled when he told her.
“I didn’t put that there.”
Arthur turned it over.
Two letters were written on the side in silver marker.
S.V.
Sarah Vance.
Daniel had hidden it for her.
Arthur put the drive into his pocket.
Then he heard the apartment door open.
He froze.
Footsteps entered.
Slow.
Heavy.
Arthur moved behind the kitchen wall.
A man walked into the living room.
Tall.
Gray suit.
Scar beside his left ear.
The same man who had accompanied Eleanor.
Arthur remained silent.
The stranger walked directly to the freezer.
He opened it.
Checked inside.
Then cursed softly.
He pulled out his phone.
“It isn’t here.”
Arthur could hear another voice through the speaker but not the words.
The man answered.
“No.”
“The old man must have taken it.”
Arthur’s hand tightened.
The stranger continued.
“I’ll handle Bennett.”
Arthur slowly removed his phone and activated the audio recorder.
The man said one final sentence.
“Tell Mrs. Vance not to worry.”
“By tomorrow, the butler won’t be a problem.”
Arthur waited until the stranger left.
Then he remained motionless for thirty seconds.
His heart pounded harder than it had when he caught Sarah.
He called Detective Reed.
“I found something Daniel left behind.”
“What?”
“A flash drive.”
“Do not open it.”
Reed’s voice became urgent.
“Bring it directly to me.”
Arthur looked toward the apartment door.
“I also recorded a man threatening me.”
Reed paused.
“Where are you?”
Arthur gave him the address.
“Stay there.”
Arthur walked back into the living room.
He noticed the overturned photograph.
He picked it up.
It showed Daniel with his father, Charles Vance, ten years earlier.
Arthur knew the photograph well.
But something had been written on the back.
Three words.
NOT AN ACCIDENT.
Arthur stared at them.
Charles Vance had died five years earlier after falling from the stairs at the family’s lake house.
May you like
Everyone had called it an accident.
Everyone except, apparently, Daniel.
