Chapter 4 - THE MAN IN VICTOR’S CAR
Simon Voss woke at Northwestern Memorial under police guard.
He had a head injury, two broken ribs, and enough sedative in his blood to keep him unconscious for hours.
Mara would not let me see him.
Victor gave an interview from the courthouse steps.
He claimed someone planted Voss in his vehicle.
Kendra stood behind him in dark glasses.
Eleanor told a reporter she always feared I was dangerous.
At Meridian, the board suspended Victor pending investigation.
He called each director personally.
Some had once praised him as the future of the company.
Not one returned the call.
By afternoon, he had lost his office, his accounts, his company car, and access to the executive floor.
He still believed the crisis would pass.
Men like Victor often confused delay with victory.
Mara finally allowed me to speak to Voss with cameras recording.
He stared at me for a long time.
“You look like Evelyn.”
My mother’s name struck me harder than expected.
“You knew her?”
“I helped her investigate Arthur.”
My father stiffened behind the observation glass.
“Investigate what?”
“An acquisition called North Harbor.”
North Harbor was the deal that transformed Hartwell Group from a regional builder into an empire.
My mother died six weeks before it closed.
Voss said she discovered forged environmental inspections and political payments.
She believed someone inside Hartwell planned to silence her.
“Was it my father?”
Voss looked at the glass.
“No.”
“It was the man Arthur trusted most.”
“Russell?”
Russell did not react.
Voss shook his head.
“Daniel Kent.”
Russell’s older brother.
Daniel died fourteen years ago, officially from a heart attack.
Voss claimed Daniel arranged my mother’s crash, stole the original evidence, and used Lane Memorial Foundation to hide payments.
When Voss tried to expose him, Daniel threatened his family.
Voss disappeared.
Years later, Kendra found him.
“How?” I asked.
“Her mother worked for Daniel.”
Kendra knew about the foundation before she met Victor.
She did not choose him because he looked rich.
She chose him because he worked at Meridian and slept beside Arthur Hartwell’s daughter.
Victor had been bait.
I had been the target.
Voss said Kendra convinced Victor that the evidence could make him powerful.
She asked him to copy my private documents, collect biometric samples, and bring her old trust papers.
He did it gladly.
“Did he know she planned the fifty-million-dollar transfer?”
“Yes.”
“Did he assault you?” Mara asked.
Voss looked toward the camera.
“He panicked when I told him Kendra intended to leave the country without him.”
Before Voss could explain more, alarms sounded in the hospital hall.
A nurse rushed inside.
Smoke was coming from the records floor.
The fire suppression system had been disabled.
Mara ordered officers to move Voss.
His bed was already empty.
May you like
Someone wearing a doctor’s coat had taken him through a restricted elevator.
On the pillow lay my mother’s bracelet.
