Chapter 4 - THE LLC
“Sit down.”
Corinne’s attorney protested. Corinne didn’t. She remained standing with one hand on the door, staring at Rachel.
Rachel had been bluffing.
I realized it half a second before Corinne did.
“We don’t know the account holder yet,” Rachel said calmly. “But your reaction tells me Laura was looking in the right direction.”
Corinne turned on her. “You manipulative bitch.”
Rachel barely blinked. “You married my client after lying about your relationship with his dead wife. I can live with your opinion of me.”
For one strange second, I almost laughed. Then I remembered why we were there.
Rachel spread the Northcrest documents across the table. She did not drown us in numbers. She picked three invoices.
“This one claims Northcrest performed twelve hundred hours of consulting in one month.”
Corinne crossed her arms.
“This one bills for a server migration another company performed.”
Silence.
“And this one was approved under your credentials four days after the work was supposedly completed.”
“I had staff.”
“Then name them.”
Corinne didn’t.
“Who benefited?”
“I told you. Daniel ran Northcrest.”
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Laura write this?”
Rachel pushed forward an email.
Laura: I asked Daniel directly. He says you told him the invoices were authorized.
Corinne: Stop involving my family.
Laura: Then explain the transfers.
Corinne: You’ll regret turning this into something bigger than it is.
My hands curled beneath the table.
“How many times did you lie to me?” I asked.
Corinne looked exhausted. “You want a number?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t have one.”
That answer hurt more than a denial.
I thought of our wedding. Maisie toddling between tables. Corinne holding my hand during the vows. Corinne promising to protect my family while Laura’s papers sat locked twenty feet from our bedroom.
“Did you know about Maisie’s trust before we married?”
Corinne’s eyes lifted.
Too quickly.
“Why are you asking that?”
“Answer me.”
“No.”
“Life insurance?”
“No.”
“Laura’s estate?”
“No.”
Her voice was getting faster.
Rachel noticed too.
I said, “Laura wrote that you asked questions about all three.”
“That woman wrote a lot of things.”
I stood.
“Don’t call her that.”
Corinne stood too. “What do you want from me, Ethan? You want me to kneel down and tell you Laura was perfect?”
“I want you to stop using Laura’s imperfections as an excuse for your lies.”
“She blackmailed me!”
The words exploded out of her.
Everyone froze.
Corinne realized too late that she had said it.
Rachel leaned forward. “Explain.”
Corinne’s chest rose and fell. “She found irregularities before the company sale. She threatened to expose me unless I helped her close the transaction without the scandal becoming public.”
“Were the irregularities yours?”
Corinne looked away.
That was answer enough.
Then my phone buzzed.
Anna.
I almost ignored it.
The second message came immediately.
GET HOME NOW.
I called.
“What happened?”
Anna whispered, “Someone tried to open the cabinet.”
I was already moving.
“What?”
“I heard the alarm. The hallway camera caught someone at the back door ten minutes ago.”
“Corinne is sitting in front of me.”
Corinne looked up sharply.
Anna continued. “Whoever it was left when the alarm sounded.”
Rachel and I looked at each other.
Corinne’s attorney said, “My client has been here all morning.”
I turned toward Corinne.
“Who else knows what Laura kept in that cabinet?”
“I don’t know.”
“Your brother?”
No answer.
“Corinne.”
“Daniel lives in Florida.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Her jaw tightened.
When we reached the house, police were taking a report. Nothing appeared stolen. The cabinet was untouched. But the rear door showed fresh tool marks.
Someone had wanted inside.
That changed the shape of the story again.
Corinne was not the only person who had reason to fear Laura’s records.
That evening, Rachel tracked down the attorney who had handled the original sale escrow. His name was Mark Reynolds. He was retired now, living two states away. The moment Rachel mentioned Northcrest, he remembered.
“Laura demanded a forensic audit,” he said.
“What happened?”
“She stopped it.”
I stared at the phone.
“Why?”
“Someone gave her corrected records. She said the discrepancy had been resolved.”
Rachel asked the question I was already thinking.
“Was it?”
Mark sighed.
“No.”
The missing money had never been corrected.
Someone had manufactured documents convincing Laura to stop looking.
I went back to the cabinet and stared at the shelves.
May you like
The answer wasn’t only about who stole $482,600.
It was about who had already learned, years before Laura died, exactly how to make her doubt her own evidence.
