Chapter 14 - The Second Betrayal

Richard looked as if someone had struck him.

"No."

The word came out barely audible.

Emily backed away from him.

"She named you."

"I heard her."

Detective Brooks stepped between Richard and the door.

"Don't leave."

He raised both hands. "I'm not leaving. I'm telling you the tape is wrong."

I stared at my brother.

"Did you ask Thomas to get rid of Elise?"

"No."

"Did you know Dad changed the trust?"

"Yes, but--"

"Did you know my daughter would inherit control?"

"Margaret, listen to me."

I had heard those words from Thomas too many times.

Richard saw it on my face.

"I argued with Thomas," he said. "I told him Dad was reckless for giving a child future control. I said the succession plan should be challenged. But I never told him to take her."

"Evelyn says you did."

Richard dragged both hands over his face.

"Then Thomas made her believe it. Or she misunderstood. I don't know."

Brooks ordered officers to seize Richard's phone and asked him to come to the station voluntarily.

Before he left, he turned to Emily.

"I failed your mother. I may have helped Thomas hide things later because I was a coward. But I did not steal you."

Emily's jaw tightened.

"I don't know what to believe anymore."

Neither did I.

The forensic team continued through the archive.

An hour later, they found something that changed the question again.

A series of emails printed from an old corporate server backup.

Thomas had exchanged messages with Evelyn using code names. In one message, he wrote:

R is pushing again. Says the child changes everything. Wants problem solved before board vote.

R.

Richard?

But another message from Evelyn replied:

Tell R I won't hurt anyone. Transfer only. No violence.

Sarah studied the page.

"We need to know who R is."

A forensic accountant working beside her opened an old payment ledger.

There was a $250,000 transfer to Evelyn.

The money did not come from Thomas's account.

It came from the Vale Family Foundation.

Richard controlled that account in 2008.

I felt the room tilt.

Then the accountant looked closer.

"Wait. The authorization code isn't Richard's."

He enlarged the scanned record.

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