Chapter 9 - JONATHAN’S LETTER
My hands trembled as I unfolded the pages.
Jonathan’s handwriting was hurried but unmistakable.
Clara, I have discovered that Charles has been moving money out of the Bennett Trust for years.
He believes your father destroyed his family.
He has convinced himself that stealing from you is justice.
I created an account in your name to draw the missing funds into one place where Charles could not move them without exposing himself.
I intended to tell you everything after I gathered enough evidence.
But someone has begun following me.
If anything happens, do not trust the first confession.
Charles never works alone.
I stopped reading.
Daniel took the letter and continued.
The final paragraph mentioned Adrian Cross.
It also mentioned someone identified only as V.
At first, we assumed V meant Vanessa.
But Jonathan had written the letter seven years before Daniel met her.
Vanessa could not have been involved then.
“Who is V?” Daniel asked.
The box contained photographs of Charles meeting Adrian outside banks, restaurants, and construction sites.
One image showed them speaking with a woman whose face was hidden by a wide hat.
Jonathan had written a date on the back.
The date was six months before his death.
Another page listed payments from the stolen account to a company called Valmont Consulting.
Detective Reynolds searched the company records.
Valmont Consulting belonged to Victoria Bennett.
Our aunt.
Victoria was our father’s younger sister.
She had not spoken to us in nearly ten years.
After our father died, she challenged his will and claimed he had hidden assets from her.
The case failed.
Victoria moved to Europe and publicly accused me of stealing the family company.
We believed she had disappeared from our lives.
She had not.
Records showed Valmont Consulting had received almost four million dollars from Charles’s network.
Daniel stared at the screen.
“Aunt Victoria knew Vanessa?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Vanessa was brought in for another interview.
When Detective Reynolds showed her Victoria’s photograph, Vanessa’s confidence vanished.
“She called herself Mrs. Vale.”
“What did she do?”
“She trained me.”
Daniel stood behind the one-way glass with me.
Vanessa explained that Victoria had taught her our family history.
She taught her Daniel’s fears.
His habits.
His favorite foods.
His memories of losing our father.
“Victoria said Clara had stolen the life that should have belonged to her,” Vanessa said.
“She said Daniel was weak because Clara had raised him.”
“She wanted him separated from his sister.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel was the only person who could remove Clara as trustee.”
Detective Reynolds placed Jonathan’s letter on the table.
“Did Victoria order Jonathan’s death?”
Vanessa recoiled.
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“Did Charles?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Victoria now?”
Vanessa lowered her voice.
“She came back for the wedding.”
Daniel stepped closer to the glass.
The wedding was supposed to take place at St. Matthew’s Cathedral.
The reception had been scheduled at our estate.
Although the wedding had been canceled, the vendors had not yet been informed.
Vanessa looked directly toward the hidden observation window.
It was impossible for her to see us.
Yet she seemed to know Daniel was there.
“Victoria said the wedding would happen even if Daniel changed his mind.”
The next morning, Daniel was gone.
May you like
On his bed lay a note written in Vanessa’s handwriting.
COME TO THE CATHEDRAL ALONE IF YOU WANT YOUR BROTHER BACK.
