Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW ABOUT THE CRASH
Claire Vance had not disappeared.
She lived in a private care facility outside Denver.
Thomas had paid every bill through a Sterling hospitality account labeled former employee support.
The facility’s records described Claire as suffering from severe cognitive decline.
No independent neurologist had examined her in years.
I sent our attorney and a medical advocate to the facility.
Thomas attempted to stop them.
His authority had already been suspended.
Claire was alert enough to recognize my name.
She asked whether Daniel had survived the crash.
No one had told her he died.
For twelve years, the facility staff had been instructed not to discuss the Sterling family.
I traveled to Denver the following morning.
Sloane asked to accompany me.
I refused.
She was not yet an ally.
She was a witness with her own motives.
Marcus came instead.
Claire sat beside a wide window overlooking a frozen garden.
She appeared older than her sixty-one years.
Her hands shook as she studied my face.
“You have Daniel’s eyes.”
“What happened on the mountain?”
Tears filled hers.
“He discovered the accounts.”
“Thomas and Peter were moving money from the employee pension fund.”
“Your father copied everything into Arthur’s ledger.”
“Peter Cross was the engineer on the helicopter.”
“Yes.”
“He was also Thomas’s partner.”
The official report said mechanical failure caused the crash.
Claire told a different story.
Daniel planned to fly to Denver and deliver the ledger to federal investigators.
Thomas confronted him at the private landing area.
Claire followed because she feared violence.
Julian was nineteen.
He waited inside her car.
“Thomas demanded the ledger,” Claire said.
“Daniel refused.”
“They fought.”
“Did Thomas board the helicopter?”
“No.”
“He removed Daniel’s ring when Daniel struck him.”
My stomach tightened.
The ring had been taken before the crash.
Thomas did not recover it from a body.
He stole it while my father was alive.
“Why did the helicopter crash?”
Claire looked toward the closed door.
“Peter had damaged the fuel controls.”
“He promised Thomas the aircraft would make an emergency landing.”
“Something went wrong.”
“Daniel, the pilot, and Peter all died.”
“You witnessed the sabotage?”
“I heard Peter admit it.”
“What happened to the ledger?”
Claire hid it in the founder’s suite before Thomas could find it.
She intended to give it to my grandfather.
Arthur suffered a stroke two days after the crash.
Thomas became temporary trustee.
Claire tried to speak.
Thomas threatened to accuse Julian of helping sabotage the aircraft.
Then he revealed the truth of Julian’s birth publicly to Claire’s husband.
Her marriage collapsed.
Thomas used her fear and shame to control her.
Years later, when she threatened again, Dr. Malcolm Reeve declared her mentally incompetent.
Thomas placed her in the facility.
“He told Julian I abandoned him,” Claire whispered.
“He told him you were ill,” I said.
“He told Julian whatever made Julian need him.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Before I left, she grabbed my wrist.
“The ledger has two locks.”
“What does that mean?”
“One opens with Arthur’s ring.”
“The other opens with Daniel’s.”
Thomas possessed Arthur’s ring.
Julian had been wearing Daniel’s.
The stolen ledger was useless without both.
Whoever took it from the founder’s suite would need the rings next.
My phone rang.
May you like
Security reported that Thomas had left the resort.
Arthur’s signet ring was missing from the corporate vault.
