Chapter 7 - The Woman in Vermont
The address led to a modest house near a lake, two hours from Burlington.
Graham drove with Lucy beside him. She had insisted on coming despite her stitches. They had not spoken much. The road wound through bare trees and small towns where people still left porch lights on.
At the house, a woman opened the door before they knocked.
She was older than the woman in the photograph, with silver at her temples and a faint scar near her hairline.
Graham stopped.
“Elise?”
She looked at him for a long time.
“Hello, Graham.”
He wanted to embrace her. He wanted to shout. He wanted to ask why she had let him bury an empty coffin and spend eleven years talking to a stone.
Instead, he said, “You’re alive.”
Elise nodded. “I am.”
Lucy stepped forward. “Mrs. Whitmore, my father—”
“I know,” Elise said. “Daniel was a good man. He deserved better.”
Graham’s voice cracked. “Why?”
Elise led them inside. On the kitchen table sat a blue ledger, its corners worn, its pages packed with dates, company names, and handwritten notes.
“Victor found evidence that Daniel had discovered the transfers,” she said. “He threatened to frame him for embezzlement. Then he threatened you.”
“So you ran.”
“I thought I could protect you by disappearing. Victor staged the accident, destroyed the car, and made sure the body could never be identified. I was hidden in a clinic under another name.”
“You let me grieve you.”
“I know.”
“You let me stand at your grave.”
Elise lowered her eyes. “I know.”
Graham struck the table with his palm. The ledger jumped.
“You should have trusted me.”
“I did trust you. I didn’t trust what Victor had built around you. He had your signature on documents you never saw. He controlled your schedule, your accounts, your board. He knew exactly how to make you choose work over every warning.”
Graham looked at the ledger.
“What is this?”
“The truth,” Elise said. “And the reason Victor is trying to kill us.”
She opened to the final page.
A list of payments ended with a transfer scheduled for the following morning.
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Recipient: Whitmore Systems Employee Relief Fund.
Amount: $240,000,000.
