Chapter 4 - The Woman Margaret Never Wanted to Meet
The microfilm was useless without a reader.
That was the problem.
The person who had created it had done so knowing that anyone who found it would have to know exactly where to look.
Richard called an old investigator named Samuel Cross.
He had worked with Whitmore Development before retirement.
But before Samuel could arrive, Margaret disappeared.
Hannah noticed first.
“Where is she?”
Richard looked around.
“What?”
“Your wife.”
Richard searched the house.
Her coat was gone.
So was her phone.
Hannah's stomach tightened.
“She took the pendant.”
Richard looked at the table.
The pendant was indeed gone.
He closed his eyes.
“Why would she do that?”
“Maybe because she thinks you're lying.”
“She wouldn't.”
Hannah looked at him.
“She accused me of stealing it in front of half of Chicago.”
Richard went silent.
“Maybe you're wrong about her.”
“I know my wife.”
“Do you?”
The words stung.
Richard left.
They tracked Margaret to the lake.
She was sitting inside her parked car.
The pendant was on the passenger seat.
Richard opened the door.
“Margaret.”
She looked at him.
“Tell me everything.”
He leaned against the car.
“I don't know everything.”
“Start with what you know.”
He told her.
Daniel.
Rose.
The missing ledger.
William.
The hidden funds.
Margaret listened.
Then she asked:
“Did you love Rose?”
Richard froze.
“No.”
“That's not an answer.”
“She was my employee.”
“Did you love her?”
“No.”
“Did my father?”
Richard looked at her.
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“Your brother.”
She stared into the windshield.
“I found something.”
She handed him a photograph.
William.
Rose.
Daniel.
All standing together.
Richard stared.
“Where did you get this?”
“My mother.”
“What?”
“Before she died.”
Margaret explained.
Her mother had known about the fraud.
She had known William was dangerous.
She had secretly helped Rose hide evidence.
And the pendant had been passed through Margaret's family before ending up with her.
“I never knew what it meant,” Margaret whispered.
“Why did you accuse Hannah?”
“Because the pendant vanished.”
“But you gave it away.”
Margaret looked at him.
“To a woman.”
“Who?”
“She said she represented my mother's estate.”
Richard stiffened.
“What woman?”
Margaret described her.
Richard knew immediately.
“Sarah Vaughn.”
Hannah stepped out of the second car.
“Who is Sarah?”
Richard stared.
“An attorney.”
“Whose attorney?”
“William's.”
“But William is dead.”
“So is Sarah's license,” Richard said.
Hannah frowned.
“What?”
“Her law license was revoked eight years ago.”
Margaret looked at her husband.
“Then who is she?”
Richard's answer came quietly.
“I don't know.”
They returned to the Whitmore estate.
Samuel Cross arrived with a portable microfilm reader.
The image appeared.
Numbers.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
Then a name jumped out.
Judge Thomas Ellison.
Another.
Commissioner Grant.
Another.
Attorney David Hale.
And then:
WILLIAM WHITMORE.
Hannah leaned closer.
There were payments made to all three men.
But the final page contained something worse.
A signature.
Richard Whitmore.
Hannah stepped back.
“You signed it.”
Richard stared.
“I didn't.”
“It has your name.”
“I never approved those payments.”
“Then how?”
“William forged my signature.”
Samuel looked at him.
“We can prove that.”
Richard pointed to another entry.
“What is that?”
Samuel zoomed in.
An account number.
Hannah recognized it.
“That's my mother's account.”
Everyone looked at her.
“My mother's?”
“Yes.”
Hannah's mother appeared behind them.
Her face went white.
She shook her head.
“No.”
Richard looked at her.
“What happened?”
“I never opened that account.”
Samuel turned the screen.
“Someone deposited $250,000.”
Hannah's mother began crying.
“We never had that kind of money.”
Richard stared at the date.
The deposit was made three days after Daniel's death.
Hannah whispered:
“Who gave her the money?”
Samuel checked.
“William Whitmore.”
Silence.
Margaret put a hand over her mouth.
Hannah looked at her mother.
“Mom?”
Her mother began shaking.
“I didn't know where it came from.”
“You spent it?”
“No.”
“You didn't?”
“I never touched it.”
Richard asked:
“Where is it?”
Her mother looked terrified.
“I gave it back.”
“To whom?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Samuel whispered:
“This gets worse.”
He had found another transfer.
The same $250,000 moved through six accounts.
Then returned to a corporate fund.
Richard's fund.
Someone had used Hannah's family to move stolen money.
And Hannah's mother had unknowingly become the final link.
Then the mansion alarm sounded.
All security doors locked.
Richard stood.
“Everyone stay here.”
A voice came through the intercom.
“You still keep everyone in the same room.”
Richard looked up.
The voice was distorted.
But familiar.
Too familiar.
“Hannah,” the voice said.
She stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
A pause.
Then:
“Your father knew.”
The intercom went silent.
A minute later, a gunshot echoed from upstairs.
They ran.
On the floor outside Richard's bedroom was a single piece of paper.
I WAS NEVER DEAD.
Hannah stared at it.
Richard's face became expressionless.
May you like
Margaret whispered:
“William.”
Related Stories
