Chapter 3 - The Porsche Was Bought With My Mother's Missing PaychecksThe next morning, Vincent Kane sent an accountant to our apartment.
Mom was embarrassed.
“We don't need this.”
The accountant placed a laptop on our kitchen table.
“You do.”
He had traced every paycheck Mom should have received.
There were seventy-seven days.
Then he found something else.
Sterling's Bistro had withheld wages from twenty-three employees.
Not just Mom.
Twenty-three.
The money had been transferred into another company.
That company had purchased luxury vehicles.
Including David Sterling's Porsche.
I stared at the screen.
“So my mom bought his car?”
The accountant hesitated.
“Indirectly.”
Mom covered her face.
Vincent stood near the window.
He had arrived ten minutes earlier.
I looked at him.
“Can you make him give it back?”
“Yes.”
“Will Mom get her money?”
“Yes.”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
I liked Vincent.
He answered questions properly.
But then he showed Mom another document.
It was a bank transfer.
The destination account belonged to a company called Carter Holdings.
Mom stared.
“I don't know that company.”
Vincent nodded.
“I believe you.”
“Then why does it have Daniel's signature?”
“I don't know.”
I looked at the page.
Something caught my attention.
A purple mark.
A tiny star.
Exactly like the stars Mom used on her work log.
I pointed.
“Mom.”
She leaned closer.
Her face changed.
“That isn't my handwriting.”
Vincent looked at me.
“What makes you think it matters?”
“Because Daddy used to draw stars too.”
Mom stared at me.
“What?”
“When he left notes.”
Vincent took the paper.
“Where?”
“On birthday cards.”
Mom suddenly began crying.
She hadn't expected me to remember.
Vincent's voice became gentler.
“Lydia, I need to know everything.”
Mom finally nodded.
“There was a notebook.”
“What notebook?”
“Daniel kept records.”
“Where?”
Mom whispered:
“I gave it to David Sterling.”
Vincent's expression hardened.
“Why?”
“Daniel told me that if anything happened to him, I should give the notebook to the person he trusted.”
Vincent leaned forward.
“Why Sterling?”
“I thought he was his friend.”
Silence.
Then Vincent asked:
“What did Daniel write in it?”
Mom shook her head.
“I never read it.”
Vincent stared toward the window.
Then he said:
“Find that notebook.”
May you like
Because somewhere inside those pages was the truth about Daniel Carter.
And someone had spent four years making sure nobody found it.
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