Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN BEHIND NORTHSTAR|
Miriam Cole called two days later with the first concrete connection.
Northstar Advisory had been established through a chain of companies registered in different states. Its directors were listed as professional administrators, but the payment records suggested that one individual had been directing the operation.
Eva Carlisle.
The evidence was not yet sufficient to prove criminal wrongdoing, but it was enough to justify freezing the disputed transactions and expanding the audit.
Hugh asked me to attend another meeting.
Marcus was already there when I arrived. He stood beside the window, his arms folded, while Daniel projected a timeline onto the conference room screen.
“Northstar received its first payment from a Whitmore subsidiary shortly after Marcus met Eva in Aspen,” Daniel explained. “The payments increased over the following months.”
Marcus stared at the screen.
“I approved a consulting agreement with a company Eva recommended. I thought it was an ordinary vendor.”
“Did you review the ownership information?” Miriam asked.
“I reviewed the proposal. The company appeared legitimate.”
“Did you authorize the foundation transfers?”
“No.”
Miriam turned toward me.
“Mrs. Whitmore, these documents also show that someone attempted to add your name as a secondary approver. That would have made the transactions appear to have independent family oversight.”
I leaned forward.
“Was my signature copied before or after the money moved?”
“Before the largest transfer.”
Hugh's expression darkened.
“Someone wanted to make certain that Laura would be blamed if this became public.”
Nobody spoke.
Marcus looked sick.
“Eva wouldn't do that.”
I turned toward him.
“You have no evidence that she wouldn't.”
He opened his mouth, then stopped.
For months, he had defended Eva against every question while demanding that I accept his version of events without complaint.
Now the same habit was destroying his ability to think clearly.
Miriam slid a photograph across the table.
It showed Eva leaving a private office building with a man in a gray coat.
“Do you recognize him?” she asked.
Marcus studied the image.
“Richard Bell. He advises several private investment groups.”
“Does he have any connection to the Whitmore family?”
“Not officially.”
Daniel cleared his throat.
“He submitted the original proposal for the Manhattan properties last year. The one Mrs. Whitmore mentioned.”
Hugh looked at me.
“You were right to remember it.”
I barely heard him.
The photograph showed Eva smiling at Bell, her hand resting on his arm. It could have been an ordinary business meeting.
But the timestamp was from a day when she had told Marcus she was visiting her mother in Philadelphia.
Marcus noticed it too.
His face lost color.
“She told me she was out of town.”
Miriam closed the folder.
“We still need to establish the purpose of that meeting. But the pattern is becoming difficult to ignore.”
Hugh rose.
“Then we follow the evidence. No private confrontations, no threats, and no one warns her that we're investigating.”
Marcus looked toward the door.
“What if she comes to me?”
May you like
Hugh's answer was immediate.
“Then you finally ask her the questions you should have asked before you dismantled your marriage.”
