Chapter 15 - The Woman Who Kept the Original Files|
Evelyn Price had once been Roland Shaw's most trusted accountant.
She had disappeared from Chicago shortly after Elise's death.
According to Marlene, Evelyn was meticulous, brilliant, and fiercely protective of the young woman who had spent months investigating her father's companies.
But eleven years earlier, Evelyn had resigned without explanation.
Then she vanished.
Marlene stared at Elise's final message.
“I tried to find her after the funeral.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Roland told me she had moved overseas.”
Nadine folded her arms.
“Did you ever confirm that?”
Marlene shook her head.
“No.”
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Nadine opened her laptop.
“Let's start with public records.”
It took three days.
Three days of phone calls, archived addresses, and legally obtained corporate information.
Finally, we found her.
Evelyn Price was living under her married name in a small coastal town in Maine.
She was sixty-eight.
And very much alive.
When Nadine contacted her, Evelyn initially refused to speak.
Then Marlene took the phone.
“Evelyn, it's Marlene.”
Silence.
“I found Elise's message.”
The woman's breathing changed.
“What message?”
“The one she hid in the necklace.”
A long pause.
Then Evelyn whispered:
“Oh, thank God.”
Two days later, Evelyn arrived in Chicago carrying an old leather briefcase.
She looked exhausted.
But determined.
We met in Nadine's office.
Evelyn placed the briefcase on the table.
“I kept these because I promised Elise I would.”
Inside were copies of financial records, correspondence, and audit notes.
The documents suggested that Roland had used nonprofit healthcare organizations to route money through affiliated businesses.
Some contracts appeared inflated.
Others described services that independent reviewers had questioned.
Elise had discovered the pattern.
And Roland had tried to stop her.
“Did he order her death?” Marlene asked.
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
“I can't prove that.”
Marlene closed her eyes.
“But she was frightened before the crash?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn reached into her bag.
“She left me a recording.”
We listened in silence.
Elise's youthful voice filled the office.
“If anything happens to me, don't let my father convince everyone I was confused.”
Marlene began crying.
The recording continued.
“He knows what the companies are doing.”
A pause.
“And I think Colin Mercer knows, too.”
I froze.
Colin.
Eleven years earlier.
When he was thirty-one.
Before our marriage had reached its second anniversary.
Elise continued:
“Colin helped organize some of the transfers.”
My stomach turned.
I had spent twelve years sleeping beside a man who knew far more than he ever admitted.
Evelyn looked at me sadly.
“June, I'm sorry.”
I swallowed.
“For what?”
She opened another folder.
“Because your husband wasn't merely helping Roland cover up financial fraud.”
Her voice lowered.
“He was being prepared to take over the entire operation.”
Then she slid a document toward me.
It was a partnership agreement.
Roland Shaw.
Colin Mercer.
And a third name.
Tessa Lane.
May you like
I stared at the signature date.
Six months before Colin gave me the emerald necklace.
