Chapter 16 - The Missing Receiver|
Anthony Graves agreed to meet Helen and the independent investigator at a law office in Midtown. He arrived twenty minutes late, wearing a rumpled suit and carrying a briefcase that appeared older than he was.
“I don't know why my name is in this,” he said.
Helen placed the delivery record on the table.
“Your signature appears here.”
“That's not my signature.”
“Did you work at Richard Vale's firm?”
“Yes. I was an administrative contractor.”
“Did you receive a package from Victoria Ashford's office on the date shown?”
“No.”
The investigator turned the page.
“Your employee access card was used at the receiving desk that afternoon.”
“Lots of people used the receiving desk.”
“Were you one of them?”
Graves hesitated.
“Maybe. I don't remember every package from seven months ago.”
Clara watched him carefully. He looked frightened, but fear could come from many things. It did not prove guilt.
Helen asked whether he would provide a handwriting sample and consent to an examination of the firm's delivery records.
Graves refused.
“I have nothing to do with whatever happened to that money.”
“Then cooperating should help establish that,” Helen replied.
He stood abruptly.
“I'm done here.”
The investigator didn't stop him.
As Graves reached the door, Clara spoke.
“Did you know my mother?”
He turned.
“No.”
“Did you know her name was on a charity foundation?”
“I don't know anything about your mother.”
“Then why did you leave the firm two weeks after the transfer?”
Graves looked at her, and for one brief second, his expression changed.
“Because I found out what kind of people I was working for.”
“Which people?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it.
“I can't help you.”
He left.
The investigator made no attempt to chase him. Instead, he requested the firm's archived access logs through the appropriate legal process.
That evening, Helen received a message from an attorney representing Graves. He would provide a sworn statement, but only if he could do so without public exposure while the investigation remained active.
His statement arrived two days later.
Graves claimed that he had been instructed to record the package as received, although he never opened it. He said the instruction came from a senior administrator, who told him the envelope contained routine foundation correspondence.
He also said that a separate document had been removed from the receiving log after the package was entered.
He could not identify who removed it.
The statement did not prove that Graves had participated in the theft. It did establish that the chain of custody was unreliable and that someone had manipulated the paperwork.
Clara read the statement twice.
“So the package might have contained the forged scholarship form.”
“Possibly,” Helen said. “But we can't say that without finding the original contents.”
“Could the person who removed the document be Victoria?”
“Could be. Could also be someone at Vale's firm. We need evidence before assigning responsibility.”
Clara leaned back.
“Every answer gives us three more questions.”
“That's often how financial investigations work.”
She almost laughed.
It wasn't the dramatic confession she had imagined when she first discovered her name on the scholarship record. There was no single villain standing under a spotlight. There were people who signed things, people who filed things, people who looked away, and people who benefited from the confusion.
The next day, Dante sent Clara a brief message.
I have transferred all relevant records from my office to the independent investigators. I won't contact you again unless you ask.
She read it several times.
Part of her appreciated the respect.
Another part wondered whether he had finally accepted that she might never trust him.
Before she could decide what to feel, Helen called.
“There's a development. The original package was not sent directly to the foundation. It was rerouted to a private mailbox registered to a company called Ashford Event Services.”
“Victoria's company?”
“An older company connected to her family. The registration lists two authorized signatories.”
“Who?”
Helen paused.
“Victoria Ashford and her father.”
Clara closed her eyes.
Victoria had spent months telling her that she was merely an assistant, that she didn't understand business, that people like her should be grateful for any opportunity.
But Victoria's family had been connected to the very company that received the missing package.
And now investigators had discovered that the mailbox was closed the day after the gala.
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Someone had known the investigation was coming.
Someone had tried to erase the trail.
