Chapter 4 - THE FILE FROM LONDON
The London investigator arrived the next morning carrying a slim leather
case and an expression that told Adrian the news was worse than
expected.
Martin Hale had spent twenty years tracing financial misconduct for
corporate clients. Adrian had hired him quietly after discovering that
confidential acquisition plans had been leaked to a competitor. Martin
had been asked to examine payments connected to the crash, but his
findings had taken him far beyond the original assignment.
They met in Adrian’s study with Daniel Price and Detective Cole present.
Emma was not invited. Adrian had promised not to pull her into the
investigation, and he intended to keep that promise.
Martin opened the case.
“Three months before the crash, a company called Northbridge Risk
Solutions began receiving payments from a subsidiary of Blackwood
Holdings,” he said. “The company has no employees, no meaningful assets,
and no legitimate security contracts.”
“Who owns it?” Adrian asked.
“On paper, a trust registered in the Channel Islands. The beneficial
owner is concealed. But the payments pass through an account controlled
by a woman named Vanessa Blackwood.”
Adrian’s expression did not change. “How much?”
“Just under four million dollars over fourteen months.”
Daniel swore under his breath.
Martin continued. “Some payments were approved with credentials assigned
to your office. Others were authorized using Graham Voss’s executive
token.”
“Graham,” Adrian repeated.
“There is more. Northbridge paid a vehicle maintenance contractor two
weeks before your crash. That contractor had access to the steering
system on your car.”
Detective Cole leaned forward. “Do you have proof the payment was
connected to the crash?”
“Not yet. We have timing, financial links, and a service record that was
altered after the accident. The contractor claims the work was routine.”
“Where is the contractor now?” she asked.
“Missing,” Martin said.
The room went quiet.
Adrian looked at the documents. A photograph showed Vanessa leaving a
private club with Graham. Another showed them entering a hotel in
Boston. The dates matched several unexplained payments.
He had once believed Vanessa and Graham disliked each other. Graham had
called her shallow; Vanessa had called him an arrogant technician. Their
public hostility now looked like camouflage.
“Why did you wait until now to tell me?” Adrian asked.
“Because the investigator who first traced the account was followed. I
moved the records to a secure archive and came here myself.”
Martin placed a final envelope on the desk. “This came from your
father’s private files. I found it in the archive while looking for the
original trust documents.”
Adrian recognized his father’s handwriting.
The letter was dated two months before his death.
If anything happens to Adrian, look at the Blackwood Foundation
accounts. I believe someone is using the foundation to move money. I
have not confronted them because I do not yet know who is involved.
Adrian read the note twice.
His father had died of a heart attack. At least, that was what the
family believed. The foundation had been managed by Graham for years,
and Vanessa had joined its board shortly before the accident.
“Could this be connected to my father’s death?” Adrian asked.
Martin did not answer immediately. “I cannot establish that. But the
financial pattern began before he died.”
Detective Cole took the letter. “This is now part of the investigation.”
Adrian stood and walked to the window. His legs were stronger than they
had been the week before, but the muscles still tired quickly. Outside,
the garden was bright with late morning sun. He could see Emma speaking
with the gardener near the greenhouse.
He thought of her wrists marked by rope.
“Vanessa knew about the cameras,” he said.
Martin looked up. “What cameras?”
“The hidden security system in the east corridor. Emma said Vanessa
knew.”
Adrian explained that his father had installed a secondary system after
a burglary years earlier. It was not connected to the main network and
could not be disabled from the control room. Only a small number of
people knew it existed.
“Then why was the footage missing?” Daniel asked.
“It wasn’t missing,” Adrian replied. “The main system was disabled. The
secondary system may still have recorded everything.”
Martin closed his case. “Where is the recorder?”
“Behind the panel in the old wine cellar.”
Adrian had not checked it since his accident. He called the house
manager and asked him to secure the cellar.
Detective Cole stopped him before he left the study. “You are not going
down there alone.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“And you are not confronting Graham.”
Adrian gave a humorless smile. “You know me too well.”
“I know men with money often think they can solve a police investigation
by making one more phone call. Don’t.”
Adrian agreed.
As they left the study, his phone vibrated. A message from an unknown
number appeared.
Ask Emma what she took from the east corridor.
Adrian stared at it.
May you like
The sender knew Emma’s name.
And whoever it was wanted him to suspect her.
