Chapter 8 - ROBERT’S COMPANY
Robert Bennett called me that afternoon.
His voice sounded ten years older.
“Jennifer.”
“Robert.”
“Can we meet?”
I looked at Laura.
She nodded.
“Where?”
“My office.”
Laura came with me.
Bennett Industrial Supply occupied two floors of a downtown building.
Daniel had worked there for nine years.
He was vice president of operations.
Robert had always spoken proudly about handing the business to his sons someday.
When we entered his office, he locked the door.
That surprised me.
Then he placed a stack of financial reports on his desk.
“I heard the recording.”
I stared at him.
“From whom?”
“Daniel’s attorney called mine.”
Apparently Jonathan had decided his client had a much larger problem than divorce.
Robert sat down.
“I need to know everything you found.”
Laura answered.
“We can discuss evidence relevant to Jennifer, but Jennifer is not responsible for auditing your business.”
“I know.”
He looked at me.
“I should have known.”
I did not comfort him.
Robert continued.
“After the baptism, I asked our controller to review Daniel’s discretionary accounts.”
“And?”
His mouth tightened.
“Money is missing.”
“How much?”
“We don’t know.”
Laura asked, “Approximate range?”
Robert hesitated.
“Potentially over one hundred thousand dollars.”
I stared at him.
My fifteen thousand suddenly looked small.
Robert pushed a report toward us.
Daniel had used a corporate vendor account to pay invoices from three companies.
CML Consulting.
Lakefront Strategy Group.
Nolan Family Services.
CML was Chloe.
Lakefront Strategy had been dissolved two years earlier.
Nolan Family Services had an address matching one of Marianne’s rental properties.
I looked at Robert.
“Your wife?”
He nodded once.
“Possibly.”
The betrayal in his face was different from mine.
Less shocked.
More ashamed.
“How long?”
Laura asked.
“Eighteen months.”
I thought back.
Eighteen months earlier, Daniel had started complaining about money.
He had asked me to contribute more toward household expenses.
He had said his bonus had been reduced.
I believed him.
Meanwhile he had access to corporate accounts.
Robert leaned forward.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
I waited.
“Last year Daniel asked me for an advance.”
“How much?”
“Seventy-five thousand.”
“Why?”
“He said he wanted to buy investment property.”
“Did you give it to him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“He wouldn’t show me the property.”
I almost smiled.
Robert continued.
“He got angry.”
“I remember.”
He looked at me.
“You do?”
“He came home furious one night and said you treated him like a child.”
Robert nodded.
“That was the night.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Two months later, he suddenly stopped asking.”
Because he had found other money.
Mine.
Robert’s company.
Fake vendors.
Loans.
Credit.
I looked at Laura.
“How much could there be?”
She did not answer.
Not yet.
Robert stood and walked toward the window.
“I confronted Marianne this morning.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did she say?”
“That she knew Daniel was moving money.”
I stared at him.
Robert looked at me in the reflection.
“She says she thought it was temporary.”
“Temporary theft?”
“She says Daniel planned to repay everything after selling your shares.”
The room went silent.
I gripped the arm of my chair.
There it was.
The entire plan.
Borrow against my inheritance.
Use the money.
Move corporate funds.
Then sell my shares to replenish everything.
Daniel had not simply planned to leave me.
He had planned to finance his new life with the one asset my father had told me never to surrender.
Robert turned around.
“I am sorry.”
I said nothing.
“I should have seen what my wife was doing.”
That sentence mattered.
“What exactly was Marianne doing?”
His jaw tightened.
“She created entities.”
“For Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She says for tax reasons.”
Laura asked, “Do you believe her?”
“No.”
Robert sat again.
“There’s another issue.”
Of course there was.
He pushed a photocopy across the desk.
It was a check.
Thirty-two thousand dollars.
Payable to Bennett Family Management.
Signed by Robert Bennett.
Except Robert was staring at the signature like it belonged to a stranger.
“You didn’t sign it.”
“No.”
“Marianne?”
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel?”
“I don’t know.”
I leaned back.
For the first time, I understood how far the damage could spread.
The baptism party had been the smallest piece.
A ridiculous four-thousand-five-hundred-dollar bill had opened a door into something much darker.
Robert looked at me.
“Did Daniel ever ask you about selling your shares?”
“No.”
“Did he ask what they were worth?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After my father died.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Approximately seven hundred thousand.”
Robert closed his eyes.
Laura looked sharply at me.
I continued.
“The value changed with the company.”
Robert whispered, “That explains it.”
“What?”
“The credit applications.”
He opened another folder.
Daniel had recently applied for a large commercial loan.
Three hundred thousand dollars.
The application listed expected collateral.
One line read:
Spousal inherited equity interest — estimated value $725,000.
My signature appeared on the consent page.
I had never seen it.
Laura took a photograph.
“This is attempted financial fraud.”
Robert nodded.
“I know.”
I felt numb.
Then Laura asked the question I had not considered.
“Did the lender approve it?”
Robert shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“Who submitted the application?”
“Daniel.”
“When?”
“Thursday.”
Two days before the baptism.
Laura looked at me.
“That is why he needed the share transfer.”
Everything clicked.
Daniel had not been waiting until after the baptism because it was emotionally convenient.
He had been waiting because he expected my shares to become accessible before I discovered anything.
The party was not the beginning of his plan.
It was the finish line.
Except I had reached it first.
Robert’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His face changed.
“Who is it?”
I asked.
“Daniel.”
He answered.
“What?”
Daniel’s voice was loud enough for us to hear.
“Dad, do not talk to Jennifer.”
Robert looked at me.
“Too late.”
A pause.
Then Daniel said, “She’s manipulating you.”
Robert’s face darkened.
“You forged my signature.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Thirty-two thousand dollars.”
Silence.
Robert continued.
“Was it you?”
Daniel’s response came carefully.
“You should speak to Mom.”
Robert closed his eyes.
That was almost worse than a confession.
“Where are you?”
“Why?”
“I want you in my office.”
“No.”
“You work for me.”
Another pause.
Then Daniel laughed.
“Not anymore.”
Robert frowned.
“What?”
“I resigned this morning.”
All of us looked at each other.
Robert’s face went pale.
“Why?”
Daniel replied.
“Because I’m done letting this family control me.”
The call ended.
Robert immediately called his assistant.
“Disable Daniel’s building access.”
Then his controller.
“Freeze every account he had authority over.”
Then IT.
“Preserve his email.”
Each call became more urgent.
Five minutes later, IT called back.
Robert answered.
He listened.
Then slowly sat down.
“What?”
Laura asked.
May you like
Robert looked at us.
“Daniel wiped his company laptop last night.”
