Chapter 10 - The Whitmore Secret
The intruder never reached them.
Security detained a private investigator hired through one of Charles's shell companies.
The message was obvious.
Stop.
They didn't.
Richard's recording became their priority.
Alexander searched every personal archive.
Nothing.
Emily reconsidered Eleanor's wording.
Richard recorded the night Daniel died.
Not “made a recording.”
Recorded.
“Security cameras,” Emily said.
Alexander understood.
Richard's residence had used a private analog surveillance system.
Most tapes had been destroyed.
One archive remained in storage.
They found the box.
August 14.
August 15.
Then the date of Daniel's death.
Missing.
Alexander nearly threw the box.
Emily noticed the inventory number skipped.
Tape 663.
Tape 665.
664 was missing.
They traced its removal.
Signed out twelve years earlier.
By Martin Hale.
Martin admitted taking it.
“I thought it would protect me.”
“Where is it?” Emily demanded.
He hesitated.
Then told them.
A bank safe-deposit box.
They retrieved it under legal supervision.
The footage was grainy.
Richard's study.
Daniel entered carrying the black case.
Richard followed.
Then Charles.
The men argued.
No audio.
Daniel pointed toward Charles.
Richard stepped between them.
Then a fourth person entered.
Emily leaned closer.
“Who is that?”
Alexander knew.
Gregory Sloan.
Whitmore's longtime general counsel.
Still employed.
Still trusted.
Sloan took papers from Daniel.
Then struck him.
Richard intervened.
Charles appeared shocked.
The footage ended.
Sloan had been invisible throughout their investigation because everyone focused on the Whitmore family.
Alexander called the board.
Too late.
Sloan had already filed emergency documents alleging Alexander was mentally compromised by personal involvement with Emily.
The board scheduled a vote to remove Alexander's executive authority.
Charles supported it.
Emily couldn't understand.
“If Sloan is involved, why would Charles help him?”
“Because Charles thinks Sloan protects him.”
“Does he?”
Alexander looked at the frozen footage.
“No.”
Sloan had used Eleanor's original fraud.
Charles's greed.
Richard's fear.
Martin's silence.
Everyone's weakness.
He had turned them into shields.
Emily returned to the numbers.
One company appeared repeatedly.
Vale Strategic Services.
Thomas denied owning it.
Someone had used his name.
Payments continued after his supposed death.
The destination account belonged to a trust.
Emily traced its administrator.
Gregory Sloan.
They finally had a direct financial connection.
But they needed proof linking Sloan to Daniel's death.
Thomas provided it.
The mechanic who sabotaged Daniel's car was alive.
And willing to testify.
His name was Raymond Pike.
They arranged a meeting.
Raymond never arrived.
Instead, Emily received a photograph.
Raymond tied to a chair.
Behind him stood a clock.
And a message.
BRING RICHARD'S RECORDING.
Alexander called law enforcement.
Emily zoomed into the photograph.
There was a reflection in the clock glass.
A sign.
She recognized the logo.
An abandoned Whitmore distribution center.
Police moved.
Alexander insisted Emily stay behind.
She refused.
They arrived after tactical officers entered.
Raymond was found alive.
But Sloan was gone.
On the floor lay a phone.
It rang.
Alexander answered.
Sloan's voice came through.
“You've been looking backward, Alexander.”
“What do you want?”
“To remind you that companies aren't destroyed by old crimes.”
A pause.
“They're destroyed by what happens tomorrow.”
The call ended.
Emily looked at the phone.
A calendar notification appeared.
WHITMORE ANNUAL SHAREHOLDERS MEETING — 9:00 A.M.
Attached beneath it was a document neither had seen before.
May you like
A signed agreement transferring controlling voting rights.
The signature belonged to Charles Whitmore.
