Chapter 6: The Secret My Father Buried
I didn't speak for almost a minute.
My father stood beside the hotel window, looking out at the Atlanta skyline. The city lights reflected across his face, but his eyes seemed fixed on something much farther away.
"You burned Mom's letter?""
He nodded.
"Yes.""
"Why?""
His shoulders dropped.
"Because I was scared.""
"Scared of what?""
He returned to the chair beside me.
"Your mother had discovered something about Rebecca. She believed your aunt was involved in a financial scheme that had been operating for years. The envelope contained information about it.""
I shook my head.
"Then why would you burn it?""
"Because Rebecca called me that night. She told me Laura had become confused because of her medication. She said the documents were probably misunderstandings.""
I stared at him.
"You believed her?""
"I wanted to believe there was an explanation.""
"But Mom was dying. Why would she lie?""
Dad closed his eyes.
"She wouldn't.""
The admission hurt more than I expected.
I pulled the hotel blanket around myself.
"Did you ever tell the police?""
"No. I thought the matter was finished when Rebecca disappeared.""
"And Vanessa?""
He looked toward the door.
"Rebecca introduced us.""
My mouth fell open.
"What?""
"She introduced us at a charity event about a year after your mother died. Vanessa knew about your family, and she seemed to understand what we'd been through.""
I remembered Vanessa arriving at our house with flowers and sympathy cards.
She had always said she understood what it meant to lose someone.
Now I wondered how much she had known before she walked through our front door.
Dad continued.
"At the time, I thought Rebecca was trying to help me rebuild my life. I didn't realize she had her own reasons.""
I stood up.
"So Vanessa married you because of Mom's money?""
"I don't know yet.""
"She put me in the garage. She took Mom's things. She stole from my trust. How much more do you need to know?""
Dad looked devastated.
"Nothing. You're right.""
His phone rang.
Richard.
Dad answered immediately.
"What's happening?""
Richard's voice was tense.
"Michael, I found something in the original trust records. I need you to come to my office tomorrow morning.""
"What?""
"The $240,000 transfer wasn't simply an unauthorized withdrawal.""
Dad frowned.
"Explain.""
"The company account received money from your daughter's trust, but it immediately transferred most of that money to another financial institution. That account is connected to a person named Rebecca Carter.""
Dad stood.
"What?""
"There's more. The company was incorporated using an address that matches a property Rebecca purchased three years ago.""
I looked at Dad.
He put the phone on speaker.
"Richard, how much went to Rebecca?""
"Approximately two hundred thousand dollars.""
Dad sat down heavily.
"Why?""
"That's what we're trying to establish.""
I stepped closer.
"Can you trace it?""
Richard paused.
"Emily, I believe your mother was trying to tell us that the trust was only one part of a much larger arrangement.""
"What does that mean?""
"It means the person who stole from you may have been moving money for someone else.""
Dad rubbed his forehead.
"Can we meet tomorrow?""
"Eight o'clock. And Michael, bring Emily if she's well enough. There's something she needs to see.""
The next morning, we arrived at Richard's office shortly before eight.
He had prepared a conference room with several documents arranged across the table.
A woman from the bank's fraud investigation department was already there.
She introduced herself as Patricia Wells.
"Emily, I want you to understand that none of this is your fault," she said.
I nodded.
She opened a folder.
"We reviewed the account activity and found several transfers made under questionable circumstances. Some were authorized using forged signatures. Others were supported by documents that appear to have been altered.""
Dad leaned forward.
"Can you freeze the remaining funds?""
"We've already requested an emergency restriction pending investigation.""
Richard placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Vanessa standing outside a bank with Rebecca.
The date printed beneath it was almost four months before Vanessa married Dad.
I stared at it.
"They knew each other?""
Richard nodded.
"According to the bank's records, they had been communicating for at least eighteen months before your father's marriage.""
Dad looked sick.
"Rebecca introduced us, but I thought they barely knew each other.""
Patricia turned another page.
"There is also evidence that the two women discussed Emily's inheritance.""
I felt my hands turn cold.
"Discussed me?""
She nodded.
"One message refers to the trust as the 'Laura problem.'' Another says that the money would become accessible once the household situation was settled.""
Dad stood abruptly.
"Household situation?""
Richard read from the printed message.
"'Once the girl is out of the way, everything becomes much easier.''"
My throat tightened.
I remembered Vanessa taking my phone.
Brittany laughing while carrying my mother's belongings upstairs.
The freezing garage.
I had thought Vanessa wanted me out of her daughter's bedroom.
Now I wondered whether the bedroom had ever been the real issue.
Dad gripped the edge of the table.
"She was trying to get rid of my daughter.""
Patricia spoke carefully.
"The messages don't establish what that phrase meant. But they do establish that your daughter was being discussed in connection with financial arrangements.""
Richard opened another folder.
"There's one more thing.""
He slid a printed email toward us.
It had been sent from Rebecca's account to Vanessa six months earlier.
The subject line read:
*THE SECOND ACCOUNT.*
I read the message.
Laura never told Michael about the offshore account. The original documents are still missing. Find the key before Emily turns eighteen.
I looked up.
"What key?""
Richard examined the photograph of my mother's jewelry box.
"Was there ever a separate key for that locked compartment?""
I nodded slowly.
"Mom wore a tiny brass key on her necklace when I was little.""
Dad stared at me.
"Why didn't you tell me?""
"Because I thought it was just part of her necklace. I haven't seen it since she died.""
Richard leaned forward.
"Do you remember what happened to it?""
I closed my eyes.
I remembered my mother lying in bed, holding my hand.
I remembered her necklace.
And I remembered Vanessa helping organize her belongings after the funeral.
Then something else came back to me.
"Mom gave me the key.""
Dad looked startled.
"What?""
I swallowed.
"She put it inside my teddy bear. The brown one with the missing button. She told me never to let anyone throw it away.""
Richard immediately sat up.
"Where is that teddy bear now?""
I looked at Dad.
"It was in my bedroom.""
Dad took out his phone.
"We need to go home.""
But before he could stand, Patricia's computer chimed.
She turned the screen toward us.
A new financial transaction had just been attempted.
The recipient was an account registered under my name.
The amount was $500,000.
And the authorization request included a scanned copy of my signature.
I stared at the screen.
"I never signed that.""
Richard's expression became grave.
"I know.""
Then he enlarged the attached document.
At the bottom was a line that made my father whisper a word I had never heard him say before.
The document listed my legal guardian.
*Rebecca Carter.*
My aunt hadn't simply disappeared.
May you like
Someone had been pretending she still had authority over me.
And according to the date on the document, that person had been planning this for years.
