Chapter 9 - The Plane That Never Left
Charlotte and Daniel reached Westchester County Airport twenty-three minutes later.
The aircraft remained on the runway.
Authorities had blocked departure.
Victor Hale stood beside the terminal shouting into his phone.
When he saw Charlotte, he stopped.
Daniel approached first.
“Where is Nathaniel?”
Victor laughed.
“You think I know?”
Charlotte pointed toward the plane.
“You were leaving without luggage.”
Victor looked away.
“That usually means somebody is frightened.”
He refused to cooperate.
Then Charlotte noticed a woman sitting inside the terminal.
She appeared to be in her sixties.
Gray coat.
Small suitcase.
Terrified expression.
Victor repeatedly glanced toward her.
Charlotte walked over.
“Are you traveling with Mr. Hale?”
The woman shook her head.
Victor shouted, “Don’t speak to her.”
Charlotte stopped.
That answered the question.
The woman introduced herself as Helena Brooks.
She had worked as Evelyn Valle’s personal bookkeeper.
Charlotte felt her pulse accelerate.
Helena had disappeared shortly after Evelyn died.
“I was told you moved to Canada.”
Helena laughed bitterly.
“That was the story.”
She had been living in Vermont under another name.
Victor contacted her two days earlier.
He offered money if she left the country immediately.
“Why now?”
Helena looked at Charlotte.
“Because I have the original ledger.”
Victor cursed.
Daniel called investigators.
Helena opened her suitcase.
Beneath several sweaters lay a red leather book.
Evelyn’s handwriting filled its pages.
Every suspicious payment was recorded.
Dates.
Accounts.
Initials.
N.V.
M.H.
V.H.
Charlotte looked toward Victor.
His arrogance vanished.
Helena turned to a page dated one week before Evelyn’s death.
A payment of five hundred thousand dollars had been transferred to a company called Meridian Medical Consulting.
Charlotte asked, “Who owned Meridian?”
Helena answered quietly.
“Dr. Howard Pierce.”
The same doctor who altered Evelyn’s toxicology report.
Then Helena pointed to another entry.
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
Recipient listed only as D.R.
Charlotte looked at Daniel.
He froze.
Helena continued.
“Your mother wrote a note beside it.”
Charlotte read the handwriting.
Daniel Reed - emergency protection payment.
She exhaled.
It was not a bribe.
Evelyn had been trying to protect him.
Then Charlotte noticed one final entry on the page.
It was dated the day Evelyn died.
Two million dollars.
Recipient: M.H.
Description: FINAL AGREEMENT.
Margaret.
Charlotte looked at Helena.
“What agreement?”
Helena’s voice dropped.
“Evelyn was going to confront Margaret that night.”
“About the money?”
Helena shook her head.
“About Charlotte.”
Charlotte stared at her.
May you like
Helena whispered, “Evelyn discovered Margaret had been lying about who Charlotte’s father was.”
---
