Chapter 17 - THE NIGHT ARTHUR WHITMORE DIED|
Grant's words followed me all the way home.
I called Margaret that evening.
She answered immediately.
“Did you know how Arthur died?”
There was a long pause.
“Yes.”
I sat down.
“Tell me.”
“He was driving home from a meeting when his car left the road. The police called it an accident.”
“Was it?”
Margaret's voice trembled.
“No.”
I closed my eyes.
“What happened?”
“Arthur had discovered that Gideon was moving money from the family trust. He was going to report him. The night before the crash, he told me he had found proof.”
“Did he say what kind?”
“He had a ledger. It listed every transfer and every person involved.”
“Where is it?”
“I don't know. He told me he had hidden it somewhere safe.”
I looked toward Holly.
She had been listening.
“Did the police investigate?”
“They did. But Gideon had influence. The investigation ended quickly.”
I swallowed.
“Do you think Grant knows?”
Margaret hesitated.
“I think he knows more than he admits.”
The next morning, Holly contacted the retired attorney who had handled Arthur's estate.
He remembered a storage facility in Providence.
Arthur had rented a private records vault under a business name.
The facility still existed.
We obtained a court order and went there with an investigator.
The vault was small, dusty, and filled with old boxes.
Inside a metal case, we found a ledger, several bank statements, and a sealed envelope.
The ledger listed transfers made from the Whitmore estate over a period of seven years.
Some were legitimate.
Others were routed through shell companies.
One account belonged to Victor Hale.
Another belonged to Gideon.
The final account was registered under Grant's name.
I stared at it.
“Grant was involved before he married me.”
Holly nodded.
The sealed envelope contained a letter from Arthur.
If this ledger is found, it means the people I trusted have failed to protect what I built. The money was never meant to make my family powerful. It was meant to help people who had no one else to turn to.
I read the next paragraph.
My granddaughter must be protected. Gideon believes she is a tool to secure the inheritance. He is wrong. She is a person, and she must remain free.
The final page contained a handwritten list of names.
At the bottom was a note.
The blood reserve must never be controlled by a single person.
I looked at Holly.
“Arthur knew this could happen.”
“Yes.”
“He created the safeguards because he knew Gideon might misuse the money.”
“And Grant dismantled them.”
The investigator photographed every page.
As we left the facility, my phone rang.
It was the district attorney.
“Mrs. Whitmore, we have enough to expand the investigation.”
“Against Grant?”
“Against Grant, Victor Hale, and several former directors.”
I looked at the ledger.
“What about Gideon?”
The prosecutor paused.
“Your father-in-law is dead. But we are investigating whether the estate was used to conceal the original transfers.”
I thought about Grant's warning.
May you like
He had known the truth about his father's death.
And now I understood why he had been so desperate to keep the ledger hidden.
