Chapter 6 - Valerius Imports
Bradley wasn't threatening Margaret.
He was warning Penny.
He had returned to the house after noticing another vehicle following him.
The man inside had tried to enter through the rear door.
Bradley had confronted him.
The intruder fled.
Margaret was safe.
But the piano had been opened.
The ledger was gone.
Penny felt the investigation changing shape again.
Martin had created the financial network.
Bradley had assisted.
But somebody else had known about Thomas's ledger.
Somebody who had been watching longer.
They returned to Margaret's house.
Penny examined the piano.
The hidden compartment had been forced open.
Inside remained one torn strip of paper.
A partial routing number.
Evelyn recognized it.
“Valerius.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No. That's one of my family's accounts.”
Everyone looked at him.
Adrian took the paper.
His face hardened.
“Twenty years ago.”
Penny waited.
“My father created this account when he invested in Valerius.”
“Who could access it?”
“My father. Me.”
He paused.
“And my brother.”
Penny had never heard Adrian mention a brother.
“What's his name?”
“Julian Vale.”
Adrian explained.
Julian had been Valerius's operating director.
When discrepancies first appeared, Julian blamed outside consultants.
Then he disappeared from the company.
Not literally.
He resigned and moved overseas.
Adrian had believed he was escaping embarrassment.
Now Penny wondered whether he'd been escaping something else.
“Where is he?”
“Back in the city.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Exactly when the suspicious transfers had accelerated.
Penny returned to the spreadsheet.
Now that she had another name, patterns emerged.
Initials.
J.V.
Approvals.
Legacy authorization codes.
Julian had access Martin didn't.
Martin had built the machinery.
Julian had provided the financial infrastructure.
But they still needed proof.
Penny studied her father's notes.
Thomas hadn't hidden one ledger.
He'd split it.
Paper records.
Digital records.
And something else.
A witness.
The woman in the black dress.
Evelyn.
Penny looked at her.
“You knew Julian.”
Evelyn went pale.
Adrian turned.
“What?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“My brother didn't discover Valerius by accident.”
“Explain.”
“He worked for Julian.”
Silence.
Evelyn admitted that Julian had recruited her brother as an assistant.
When he discovered suspicious transfers, Julian threatened to blame him.
Evelyn had spent two years trying to clear his name.
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because Adrian would have removed me from the investigation.”
“He would have been right.”
“I needed proof.”
Penny understood.
Too well.
They had all been withholding pieces from one another while claiming protection.
That had to stop.
“No more secrets,” Penny said.
She looked at Adrian.
“From anyone.”
He nodded.
Evelyn did too.
Penny called Bradley.
“Everything.”
He hesitated.
“Penny—”
“Everything or nothing.”
Bradley finally admitted that Julian had introduced him to Martin.
Julian had also instructed Bradley to watch Penny.
“Before we started dating?”
“No.”
The answer mattered.
“When?”
“Eight months into our relationship.”
Penny's eyes closed.
Eight months.
So Bradley hadn't approached her as part of a plan.
He had betrayed her after falling in love with her.
Somehow, that was worse.
“Why did you agree?”
“Debt.”
Bradley confessed that a failed investment had left him owing hundreds of thousands.
Julian offered to erase it.
In return, Bradley only had to report whether Penny possessed any documents from her father.
“At first, I told myself it was harmless.”
“And then?”
“Then Martin started using your identity.”
“You could have told me.”
“I know.”
“But you didn't.”
“No.”
Penny let the silence stand.
She didn't comfort him.
Consequences were not cruelty.
“What does Julian want now?”
“The ledger.”
“Why?”
“Because it proves the first Valerius transfers originated from his authorization.”
Penny looked at Adrian.
That was the missing link.
They had evidence against Martin.
They needed the ledger for Julian.
“But it's gone,” Evelyn said.
Penny looked at the torn strip from the piano.
“No.”
“What?”
“My father knew people might find the compartment.”
She examined the piano.
Thomas had been meticulous.
He wouldn't place his only evidence somewhere obvious enough to describe over the phone.
Penny removed the bench cushion.
Nothing.
Then she looked beneath the keys.
One key was newer than the others.
Middle C.
Her father had taught her to play on that key.
Penny pressed it.
A tiny mechanical click sounded.
A second compartment opened beneath the keyboard.
Inside was not a ledger.
It was a safe-deposit key.
And a note.
Penny will know the bank.
She did.
Every Saturday of her childhood, Thomas had taken her to the same neighborhood bank before buying pancakes.
They drove there.
The branch manager verified the old records.
Thomas had maintained a box jointly authorized to Penny upon his death.
Nobody had notified her because the contact information was outdated.
Penny signed the access form.
She entered the vault alone.
Box 317.
Inside was a thick paper ledger.
Her father's final report.
And a small digital recorder.
Penny pressed PLAY.
Thomas Gallagher's voice filled the room.
“If Penny is hearing this, then I failed to keep this away from her.”
Her eyes filled.
“I am sorry, sweetheart.”
Penny covered her mouth.
Then her father's voice continued.
“The person authorizing the Valerius transfers is Julian Vale.”
There it was.
Proof.
But Thomas wasn't finished.
“Julian has a partner. Someone Penny knows.”
Penny leaned closer.
“I haven't confirmed the identity yet. But if my suspicion is correct, that person has access to my home.”
Penny's blood chilled.
Her father's recording clicked.
Then another voice appeared.
A woman.
Quiet.
Familiar.
“Thomas, someone's coming.”
Penny froze.
She knew that voice.
She had heard it all her life.
It belonged to her mother.
Then a man's voice entered the recording.
Thomas said one name.
“Bradley?”
Penny stopped breathing.
The recording ended.
May you like
Behind her, the vault door opened.
And Bradley walked in.
