Chapter 6 - THE EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS
The necklace was recovered at 1:18 p.m.
It was exactly where Brenda said it would be.
A security team photographed the suitcase before anyone touched it.
The emerald necklace was sealed inside a plastic evidence bag.
Andrew watched from the bedroom doorway.
The room where he had slept beside Mariana for four years suddenly felt like a stranger’s house.
Her side of the closet was nearly empty.
She had taken very little.
Some clothing.
Documents.
A framed photograph of her grandmother.
Nothing else.
Andrew stared at the bed.
Less than twenty-four hours earlier, he believed Mariana had nowhere to go.
He had ordered her to kneel.
The memory made him feel physically ill.
His phone rang.
It was his chief financial officer.
“Andrew, we have another problem.”
“What now?”
“The board has authorized a forensic audit.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t understand.”
“There are transfers we never saw.”
Andrew walked into the hallway.
“What transfers?”
“Briar Rose received eight million.”
“That’s already being reviewed.”
“There’s more.”
Andrew stopped.
“How much?”
“Another fourteen million across six smaller companies.”
His throat tightened.
“Where did it go?”
“We’re tracing it.”
“Who authorized it?”
There was a pause.
“Some approvals appear to carry your electronic signature.”
Andrew gripped the phone.
“I never authorized fourteen million dollars.”
“Then someone did it in your name.”
Downstairs, Brenda was sitting in the library with her attorney.
Andrew walked directly toward her.
Her lawyer stood.
“Mr. Whitmore, my client—”
Andrew ignored him.
“Fourteen million.”
Brenda’s eyes flickered.
Andrew took one step closer.
“Did you take fourteen million dollars from my company?”
Her attorney raised a hand.
“She will not answer questions without—”
Brenda interrupted him.
“I didn’t take it.”
Andrew stared at her.
“Then who did?”
“I said I didn’t take it.”
“You received eight million.”
“That was supposed to be temporary.”
Andrew almost laughed.
“Temporary theft?”
“I was told it was protected.”
“By who?”
Brenda’s eyes moved toward the doorway.
Margaret stood there.
Andrew turned.
Margaret’s face remained unreadable.
Brenda pointed at her.
“She said Mariana would eventually remove you.”
“She said we needed independent funds.”
Margaret walked inside.
“You idiot.”
Brenda stood.
“You told me to create Briar Rose.”
“I told you to create leverage.”
“You gave me the documents.”
“You begged to become part of this family.”
“Enough.”
Andrew’s voice filled the room.
Both women stopped.
He looked at his mother.
“How much?”
Margaret said nothing.
“How much money did you move?”
Still nothing.
Andrew stepped closer.
“Fourteen million?”
Margaret’s eyes remained steady.
Then she said something that changed the investigation.
“Fourteen million is nothing.”
Andrew stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
Margaret looked toward Mariana, who had just entered the doorway behind him.
“It means if your wife’s investigators are competent, they should stop looking at the last six months.”
Mariana’s expression sharpened.
Margaret smiled without warmth.
May you like
“They should look at the last six years.”
*
