The name on the consulting account belonged to a company called Meridian Advisory.
Margaret had never heard of it.
David had.
“That's the firm handling our expansion review.”
Susan looked at him.
“You hired them?”
“No.”
Margaret turned.
“What do you mean?”
“They were recommended by the hospital.”
“Which hospital?”
David named it.
Susan immediately shook her head.
“They aren't on our approved vendor list.”
David stared at the records.
“Then who hired them?”
No one answered.
Daniel searched the foundation's email records.
A contract had been signed electronically.
The authorization appeared to come from David.
But David denied signing it.
The digital signature looked authentic.
That was the problem.
Someone had accessed his account.
Margaret looked at her son.
“Change every password.”
“Already done.”
“Bank access?”
“Locked.”
“Foundation files?”
“Secured.”
Susan nodded.
“Good.”
Then she pointed to the payment records.
“There is still one problem.”
“What?”
“The money was withdrawn before the account was frozen.”
“How much?”
“Enough to matter.”
David closed his eyes.
“How much?”
Susan told him.
Margaret watched his face.
He wasn't thinking about himself.
He was thinking about the families.
“Can we recover it?”
“Possibly.”
“How?”
“First we need to establish who authorized the transfers.”
Daniel had already begun tracing the electronic records.
After an hour he found something.
The login originated from a computer at the foundation office.
David frowned.
“No.”
Margaret asked why.
“The office was closed that day.”
“Who has keys?”
David named the staff.
Emily.
The administrator.
Two volunteers.
And himself.
Margaret's stomach tightened.
“Emily?”
David immediately shook his head.
“No.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know my sister.”
Margaret looked at him.
“That isn't evidence.”
He went quiet.
She softened.
“I'm not accusing her.”
“I know.”
“But we can't protect people by refusing to investigate.”
David nodded.
That was another lesson he had learned.
They reviewed the security footage.
The camera outside the office showed someone entering at 9:17 p.m.
The figure wore a dark coat.
The face was hidden.
But the height was familiar.
David stared.
“That's Emily.”
Margaret felt her heart drop.
The figure entered the building.
Twenty minutes later, she left.
No one else appeared.
David shook his head.
“She wouldn't do this.”
Susan said nothing.
Daniel enlarged the footage.
A second figure appeared behind Emily.
Barely visible.
Someone had entered through the side door.
David stared.
“So she wasn't alone.”
Margaret nodded.
“Then find out who the second person is.”
They traced the building's access logs.
Emily's key had been used.
The side door had been opened manually.
No electronic record.
Someone had a physical key.
The list of people with access narrowed.
One name remained.
The maintenance contractor.
Margaret knew him.
His name was Frank.
He had worked on the lake house.
He had been recommended by the hospital.
Daniel checked his records.
Frank had been paid by Meridian Advisory.
Margaret felt a chill.
They contacted him.
He denied everything.
Then Susan showed him the payment records.
His story changed.
He admitted entering the building.
But he claimed he was only repairing a broken lock.
“Who hired you?”
“I don't know.”
“Who paid you?”
“Meridian.”
“Why?”
“They said it was routine maintenance.”
David asked, “Did you see Emily?”
Frank hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Why was she there?”
“I don't know.”
“Did she give you anything?”
“No.”
Frank looked frightened.
Margaret asked him one final question.
“Who gave you the key?”
Frank swallowed.
“A man.”
“What man?”
“I don't know his name.”
“Describe him.”
Frank thought.
“Gray hair.”
Margaret felt something inside her tighten.
“Tall?”
“Yes.”
“Older?”
“Maybe sixty.”
“Did he have a scar?”
Frank nodded.
Margaret knew.
George Ellis had a scar along his left cheek.
Thomas had mentioned it once.
Only once.
She had never forgotten.
Susan immediately contacted investigators.
But before they could do anything else, Emily arrived.
She walked into the office looking exhausted.
David approached her.
“Emily.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“We need to talk.”
She looked at Margaret.
Then at the others.
“What happened?”
David showed her the footage.
Emily stared.
“I went there.”
“Why?”
“To get something.”
“What?”
“My mother's files.”
Margaret frowned.
“What files?”
“Dad gave them to me.”
“When?”
“Before he died.”
Margaret looked at David.
He hadn't known.
Emily continued.
“Dad told me never to tell you.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
Emily began crying.
“I wasn't stealing anything.”
David softened.
“I know.”
Margaret asked, “What did you take?”
“A letter.”
“From whom?”
Emily handed it over.
The handwriting was Thomas's.
Margaret read it.
He had written to Emily about the foundation.
He told her that if David ever became responsible enough to lead it, she should support him.
But if he failed, she should take control.
Margaret understood.
Emily had been preparing herself for that possibility.
The letter was dated years earlier.
Nothing about Meridian.
Nothing about the missing money.
Margaret asked why Emily had gone to the office at night.
“I got a message.”
“From whom?”
“I don't know.”
“What did it say?”
Emily showed her phone.
The message read:
If you want to know why your father didn't trust David, come alone.
Margaret stared.
It had been designed to manipulate Emily.
David looked at his sister.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Emily looked toward the window.
“Whoever sent it.”
Margaret felt a strange sadness.
Fear had nearly divided them again.
She took Emily's hand.
“Did you meet anyone?”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
“Did you see the man?”
“I heard someone leave.”
“What did he say?”
Emily closed her eyes.
“He said, 'Tell your mother the house was never hers.'”
Margaret froze.
The words made no sense.
Or perhaps they made too much.
Thomas had owned the house.
The foundation owned it now.
But someone believed Margaret had no right to it.
David looked at her.
“Mom?”
Margaret remembered the anonymous notes.
The fourth property.
The foundation.
The threats.
Then she remembered the first letter Thomas had ever left her.
It had not mentioned the foundation.
It had mentioned freedom.
Maybe he had known that one day someone would try to make Margaret feel like she had taken something that wasn't hers.
She looked at Emily.
“He wants us fighting each other.”
Emily nodded.
“So what do we do?”
Margaret answered.
“We stop.”
The family sat together.
For the first time, no one hid anything.
Emily explained every message.
David disclosed every financial decision.
Margaret told them about Andrew.
Daniel shared the evidence.
The truth became less frightening when it was spoken aloud.
Then Susan found one more anomaly.
The stolen money had not gone to George.
It had gone to an account controlled by someone else.
Someone with a name Margaret recognized.
Peter Hale.
The room went silent.
David whispered, “No.”
Margaret stared at the records.
Peter had been telling the truth.
Or had he?
There was only one way to know.
They called him.
He didn't answer.
They called again.
Still nothing.
Then a message appeared.
I'm sorry.
Nothing else.
Margaret read it twice.
The foundation had finally reached the point Thomas had feared.
The people they trusted were being pulled apart.
And now Peter was gone.
Click here to continue reading: PART 20: Peter Vanished With the Money Trail Behind Him, and Margaret Refused to Believe the Simplest Explanation Before Hearing What He Had Been Hiding
Nine Days After Thomas Was Buried, Margaret Opened Her Door to an Unexpected Responsibility—and Realized Her Son Had Already Decided What Her Life Should Be
Part 19 of 27
