Chapter 17 - The Man Who Never Left the Payroll
Under the shelter of the stone gazebo, illuminated only by the roaring inferno of the carriage house, Alexander pried open the scorched iron box Ethan had retrieved.
Inside were no legal documents.
There was a loaded .38 snub-nosed revolver, a passport with Ethan’s photograph under an assumed name, and a series of high-resolution surveillance photographs taken over the past forty-eight hours.
The photos showed the library. They showed Evelyn reading by the window. They showed Alexander working at his desk. And standing in the foreground of every single photograph, taken from the tree line just fifty yards away, was a man wearing a cashmere overcoat Alexander knew intimately.
It was Douglas Cole. The family lawyer.
"Douglas," Alexander whispered, a sick chill settling into his gut. "He managed the liquidation trust. He knew about the rings before I even showed them to him."
"He didn't just manage it," Elena choked out, leaning against the gazebo pillar. "Mother didn't act alone thirty years ago. Arthur Davies didn't die at Blackwater Gorge. He was put on a plane to South America with five million dollars of Whitmore stock—stock that Douglas Cole has been quietly laundering through offshore shell companies ever since."
Thomas Vance inspected the revolver from the box. "Julianna didn't come here to ruin you, Alexander. She came here because Douglas told her you were the one who ordered the hit on her father thirty years ago. He played both sides to force a total asset sale."
A voice cut through the sound of the rain and sirens wailing in the far distance.
May you like
"A very astute summary, Detective," Douglas Cole said, stepping out from the shadows of the overgrown hedge maze, an umbrella held casually over his head. Behind him stood two private security contractors, their rifles raised.
***
