Chapter 16 - THE MISSING PAGE
The envelope had been opened before.
Forensic examination confirmed it.
Someone had removed Arthur’s final page years earlier.
The vault access records revealed only two entries.
Arthur.
And Richard.
Richard stared at the report.
“I never came here.”
Detective Reeves looked at him.
“Someone used your credentials.”
“When?”
“Three days after Arthur died.”
Richard sat down.
At that time, there had been only one person with unrestricted access to his executive security codes.
His personal assistant.
Margaret Sloan.
Margaret had worked for the Sterling family for thirty-two years.
She had retired to Florida.
Investigators found her living near Palm Beach.
At first, she refused to speak.
Then Reeves mentioned Leo.
Margaret began crying.
“I told Arthur to leave.”
Clara leaned closer to the speakerphone.
“Leave what?”
“The company.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor wasn't the only one stealing.”
“Who else?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Richard's brother.”
Richard froze.
“Charles?”
Charles Sterling.
Richard’s younger brother.
Leo’s great-uncle.
He lived in London.
He had attended the foundation dinner.
He had escaped the fire safely.
Clara remembered him in the courtyard.
Perfect tuxedo.
Perfectly calm.
He had asked whether the antique paintings had been saved before asking about Leo.
Margaret continued.
“Charles designed the foundation accounts.”
“Arthur discovered it.”
“He planned to expose both Eleanor and Charles.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“Why did Eleanor protect him?”
“Because Charles promised her control of the company after you retired.”
“And Arthur stood in the way.”
“Yes.”
“Did Charles order the crash?”
Margaret began crying harder.
“I don't know.”
“You know something.”
“I removed the page.”
Silence.
Richard’s voice became dangerous.
“Why?”
“Charles came to my house.”
“He knew about my daughter’s debts.”
“He threatened my grandchildren.”
“Where is the page now?”
“I burned it.”
Clara closed her eyes.
Another piece of Arthur disappeared because someone was afraid.
Then Margaret said something else.
“But I read it first.”
Reeves leaned forward.
“What did it say?”
“Arthur believed Charles had arranged three other deaths through industrial accidents.”
Richard became pale.
“Who?”
Margaret named two former executives.
The third name made Richard grip the table.
“Samuel Hayes.”
Clara stopped breathing.
“My father?”
Everyone turned toward her.
Clara’s father had died twenty-two years earlier in an offshore platform accident.
She had been fourteen.
Margaret whispered.
“Clara, your father worked for Sterling Oil.”
Clara could barely speak.
“I know.”
“He discovered financial irregularities.”
The room blurred.
May you like
Arthur had not chosen Clara randomly.
He knew exactly who her father had been.
