Chapter 8 - BURIED INSIDE BENNETT DEVELOPMENT
Daniel returned to Bennett Development before sunrise.
The forty-second floor was silent except for the hum of the ventilation system.
Sarah, Reed, and two forensic accountants followed him into the executive offices.
Daniel unlocked his computer.
“If Richard used our company for anything, there will be a trail.”
Reed shook his head.
“Unless he erased it.”
Daniel gave him a cold look.
“Then we'll find where he erased it.”
For five hours, the accountants searched years of contracts.
At 9:26 a.m., Sarah noticed something.
Larkwell Consulting had been paid by Bennett Development eighteen times.
Most payments appeared legitimate.
Market analysis.
Property assessments.
Negotiation services.
But four invoices were strange.
Each had been approved during periods when Daniel was traveling.
Each contained handwritten authorization initials.
D.B.
Daniel stared at them.
“I never signed these.”
The forensic accountant enlarged the documents.
“They're electronic scans.”
Sarah looked closer.
“Someone copied his initials.”
Daniel immediately knew who had access.
Richard.
They traced the money.
Larkwell transferred it to several smaller companies.
One eventually paid a private medical consulting firm.
Another paid a security contractor.
The final recipient made Sarah's heart stop.
Cole Event Services.
Vanessa's surname.
Daniel leaned closer to the monitor.
“She was being paid by my company before I ever met her.”
The first payment had been issued seventeen months before their introduction.
Sarah looked at him.
“They selected you long before you met her.”
Daniel stared at the screen.
His relationship suddenly looked artificial.
The charity dinner.
Their first date.
The accidental second meeting.
The weekend in Boston.
Vanessa remembering his mother's birthday.
Vanessa knowing exactly which wine he liked.
Vanessa laughing at the stories he told.
Maybe none of it had been spontaneous.
Maybe she had been studying him.
Reed's phone rang.
He stepped away.
When he returned, he looked grim.
“Police found Vanessa's wedding dress.”
Daniel slowly stood.
“Where?”
“In a dumpster behind a train station.”
“Any sign of her?”
“No.”
Sarah noticed Reed was holding something back.
“What else?”
Reed glanced at Daniel.
“There was blood on the sleeve.”
Daniel stared.
“Whose?”
“We don't know yet.”
At that moment, the office doors opened.
Margaret entered with Daniel's younger brother, Ethan.
Daniel frowned.
“What are you doing here?”
Margaret looked terrified.
“Vanessa called me.”
Everyone froze.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“What did she say?”
Margaret held out her phone.
“She told me to tell Sarah something.”
Sarah's pulse quickened.
“What?”
Margaret swallowed.
“She said Michael Crane was not the first man Sarah failed to save.”
Sarah went rigid.
Daniel looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
Sarah couldn't answer.
Because she didn't know.
Then Margaret's phone rang again.
Vanessa.
Reed motioned for silence.
Margaret answered.
Vanessa whispered only one sentence.
“Ask Sarah what happened to Thomas Avery.”
Sarah felt the floor tilt beneath her.
Because she knew that name.
May you like
She had known him long before Michael.
Thomas Avery had been her father.
