Chapter 5
Arthur called back immediately.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Arthur: Mason.
He dialed security.
Mason answered on the second ring.
Arthur: Where is Daniel?
Mason: Interview room near the ballroom.
Arthur: Get to him now.
Mason: Sir, I'm downstairs with police.
Arthur: Daniel just screamed and the call died.
Mason didn't ask questions.
Mason: Moving.
Arthur paced the hospital room.
Clara stood near the window, frozen by Beckett's words.
Victoria knows Jonathan didn't crash.
Her father's death had been the shadow over her entire childhood.
Her mother never called it murder.
She only said the story didn't make sense.
Jonathan had loved driving.
He knew the mountain road.
Police said he had lost control during heavy rain.
But according to weather records Clara later found, the storm had started almost an hour after the estimated crash.
Arthur looked at her.
Arthur: What did your mother believe happened?
Clara: She thought someone wanted him quiet.
Samuel shifted uncomfortably.
Arthur noticed.
Arthur: Samuel?
Samuel: There were rumors.
Clara: What rumors?
Samuel: Jonathan had begun reviewing internal accounts.
Arthur: He had no authority to audit company finances.
Samuel: Which is why he did it secretly.
Arthur's face hardened.
Samuel: He came to me three days before he died.
Arthur: You never told me this.
Samuel: Because he made me promise.
Arthur: He was my son!
Samuel: And he was twenty-eight years old. He was my client too.
Arthur stepped toward him.
Arthur: What did he say?
Samuel took a breath.
Samuel: Jonathan believed money was being moved through company charities.
Clara: By Richard Beckett?
Samuel: Richard was a junior accountant then.
Arthur stared.
Samuel: Jonathan suspected someone above him.
Arthur: Who?
Samuel: He didn't know.
Clara: Victoria?
Samuel: He never named Victoria.
Arthur: But she was working for the company then.
Clara looked at him.
Arthur realized she didn't know.
Arthur: Victoria was director of public relations.
Clara: Before you married her?
Arthur: Yes.
Clara: When did you marry?
Arthur: Two years after Jonathan died.
Clara absorbed that.
Samuel: Victoria was married too.
Arthur looked sharply at him.
Clara: To whom?
Samuel hesitated.
Arthur: Samuel.
Samuel: Richard Beckett.
The room seemed to tilt.
Clara: What?
Arthur stared at his attorney.
Arthur: Richard and Victoria were never married.
Samuel: Not publicly.
Arthur: What does that mean?
Samuel: They had a courthouse marriage in Nevada. It lasted less than six months.
Arthur: That's impossible.
Samuel: It was annulled.
Arthur: How do you know?
Samuel: Jonathan found the record.
Clara's heartbeat pounded.
Arthur: And you never told me?
Samuel: Victoria said it was irrelevant.
Arthur laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
Arthur: My wife has spent twenty-four years deciding what information is irrelevant to me.
Clara: Jonathan found financial theft connected to Beckett.
Samuel: Yes.
Clara: Beckett had been married to Victoria.
Samuel: Yes.
Clara: Then Jonathan died.
Samuel said nothing.
Arthur's phone rang.
Mason.
Arthur answered instantly.
Arthur: Daniel?
Mason: He's alive.
Arthur's shoulders loosened slightly.
Arthur: What happened?
Mason: Someone shut off the lights in the interview corridor and attacked the officer outside Daniel's room.
Arthur: Daniel?
Mason: He locked himself inside.
Arthur: Who attacked the officer?
Mason: We don't know. Whoever did it used a service stairwell.
Clara: Victoria.
Mason heard her.
Mason: Mrs. Vance is still with detectives.
Arthur: Then she didn't do it personally.
Clara: That doesn't mean she didn't order it.
Samuel: We shouldn't jump—
Arthur: Samuel, your instincts have protected Victoria long enough.
Samuel fell silent.
Arthur: Mason, do not leave Daniel alone.
Mason: Understood.
Arthur ended the call.
Dr. Harris entered again.
Dr. Harris: Your levels are stable. I still want you observed.
Arthur: I'm leaving.
Dr. Harris: No.
Arthur: Harris—
Dr. Harris: You're seventy-two, sedated against your will, and furious enough to raise your blood pressure through the ceiling.
Arthur: My son was attacked.
Dr. Harris: Police are with him.
Clara: Stay.
Arthur looked at her.
Clara: If somebody wants you dead, rushing out without knowing who you can trust makes their job easier.
Arthur hated that she was right.
He sat.
Samuel's phone buzzed.
He looked down.
His expression changed.
Arthur: What?
Samuel: The board called an emergency meeting.
Arthur: Why?
Samuel: Because video from the gala is online.
Arthur: Of course it is.
Samuel: The company's stock is already dropping in overseas trading.
Arthur: Let it.
Samuel stared at him.
Arthur: Someone tried to kill me. If the board thinks today's biggest problem is the stock price, they can resign.
Samuel: There is another problem.
Arthur: What?
Samuel hesitated.
Samuel: Victoria filed paperwork this morning.
Arthur: What paperwork?
Samuel: A petition questioning your capacity to execute tomorrow's transfer.
Arthur stood again.
Arthur: My capacity?
Samuel: She claims you've displayed signs of cognitive decline.
Clara stared.
Arthur laughed in disbelief.
Arthur: She drugged me.
Samuel: If she can establish that you've been confused, forgetful, or medically impaired—
Arthur: She can delay the retirement trust.
Samuel nodded.
Clara: And if the alternate will takes effect before the transfer...
Samuel looked at her.
Samuel: Victoria could gain temporary control.
Arthur's anger turned cold.
Arthur: She planned both outcomes.
Clara: Either you die...
Samuel: Or you're declared incompetent.
Arthur walked toward the window.
He looked down at the city he had spent fifty years conquering.
Arthur: I gave that woman everything.
Clara: Maybe that was the problem.
Arthur turned.
Clara: People who get everything sometimes start thinking everything belongs to them.
Samuel's phone buzzed again.
This time he answered.
Samuel: Price speaking.
He listened.
Samuel: When?
His face changed.
Samuel: Do not let anyone remove anything.
Arthur: What?
Samuel held up one finger.
Samuel: I'm on my way.
He ended the call.
Samuel: Police searched Victoria's office at the mansion.
Arthur: And?
Samuel: They found a locked box.
Clara: What's inside?
Samuel looked directly at Arthur.
Samuel: Jonathan's watch.
Arthur went pale.
Arthur: His watch was never recovered.
Samuel: Apparently it was.
Clara: In Victoria's office.
Samuel nodded.
Clara closed her eyes.
She had heard about that watch her entire life.
Her mother remembered fastening it around Jonathan's wrist the morning he died.
It had been a gift from Arthur.
Arthur sank into a chair.
Arthur: Why would she have it?
Nobody answered.
His phone rang again.
This time the caller ID displayed an unknown number.
Arthur answered.
Arthur: Hello?
A woman's voice whispered.
Woman: Mr. Vance?
Arthur: Who is this?
Woman: You don't know me.
Arthur: Then start talking.
Woman: My name is Lucy Grant. I used to work at the county records office.
Arthur glanced at Clara.
Arthur: Why are you calling?
Lucy: Because I saw the video from your gala online.
Arthur: What does that have to do with you?
Lucy began crying.
Lucy: Twenty-four years ago, a woman paid me to alter an accident file.
Clara stepped closer.
Arthur's voice became quiet.
Arthur: Which accident?
Lucy: Your son's.
Clara grabbed the back of a chair.
Arthur: Who paid you?
Lucy: I didn't know her name then.
Arthur: And now?
Lucy sobbed.
Lucy: I saw her on the video.
Arthur closed his eyes.
Arthur: Victoria?
Lucy: Yes.
Arthur's hand shook.
Lucy: She told me to replace two photographs and remove a mechanic's report.
Arthur: What mechanic's report?
Lucy: The brake line.
Clara covered her mouth.
Arthur: What about it?
Lucy: It had been cut.
No one moved.
Lucy continued.
Lucy: I kept a copy.
Arthur opened his eyes.
Arthur: Where is it?
Lucy: Safe.
Arthur: I want to see it.
Lucy: I can bring it.
Arthur: Where are you?
The call went silent.
Arthur: Ms. Grant?
A sound came through.
A door opening.
Lucy inhaled sharply.
Arthur: Lucy?
A man's voice was suddenly audible in the distance.
Man: You shouldn't have made that call.
Lucy screamed.
The phone hit the floor.
Arthur stood.
Clara shouted into the speaker.
Clara: LUCY!
There was a struggle.
Then silence.
A few seconds later, the man's voice came close to the phone.
Man: Stop digging into Jonathan's death.
Arthur: Who is this?
The man laughed quietly.
May you like
Man: Ask your wife.
The call disconnected.
