Chapter 18 - The Second Car
Daniel tackled Helen behind a concrete pillar as the SUV shot past.
Its mirror clipped a trash barrel and sent it spinning across the pavement.
Security drew their radios and shouted for the lower exits to be blocked.
The SUV swerved toward the ramp.
Renee stared after it. “I know that car.”
“Whose?” Vanessa shouted.
Renee pointed at the rear plate.
“Brooke’s father.”
Vanessa stopped cold.
Brooke had told everyone her father was in Boston and too sick to attend the wedding.
Daniel looked at security. “Find Brooke. Now.”
Helen sat against the pillar, breathing hard. The envelope was still clenched in her fist.
Margaret crouched beside her. “Give me my daughter’s words.”
Helen looked at her for a long moment.
Then she handed it over.
Margaret did not open it.
She gave it to Daniel.
Inside were four handwritten pages.
Daniel read the first line aloud.
“If something happens to me, my father started it, but Martin Hale made it possible.”
Vanessa frowned. “Hale?”
Renee closed her eyes.
“Brooke Hale.”
Daniel kept reading.
“Martin Hale moved the money through vendor companies and altered the foundation’s internal ledgers. He is afraid Aaron and I copied the original accounts.”
Margaret looked toward the elevator.
“Brooke’s father was our chief financial officer.”
Renee nodded. “And after Richard died, Martin took control of half the foundation’s investment committee.”
Daniel’s phone buzzed.
Security.
He answered.
“Brooke is gone,” the chief said. “She left during the blackout.”
Vanessa felt sick.
Then another message appeared on Daniel’s phone.
A photograph.
Brooke was in the passenger seat of the SUV.
Beside her sat Martin Hale.
Under the image was a single line:
YOUR BRIDE HAS SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO US.
Everyone looked at Vanessa’s gown.
The golden cranes glittered under the garage lights.
May you like
And suddenly Vanessa understood.
“The account map,” she whispered. “They still need the dress.”
