Chapter 14 - THE WOMAN WHO POINTED FIRST
Brenda admitted planting the emerald.
Andrew stared at her.
“You framed Mariana.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I believed she was stealing from the company.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
Brenda looked at Mariana.
“I needed Andrew to open your safe.”
Mariana understood.
“You didn’t know the code.”
“No.”
“So you planted evidence that would force me to open it publicly.”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“I wanted the hard drive.”
The drive containing Mariana’s investigation into Eastbridge.
Brenda had suspected Mariana was secretly preparing a takeover.
She wanted proof.
“You could have asked.”
“You would have lied.”
Mariana almost argued.
Then stopped.
“I probably would have refused.”
“Exactly.”
“That still doesn’t justify framing me for theft.”
“No.”
Brenda said it plainly.
“It doesn’t.”
Andrew looked disgusted.
“You let me believe she stole from my mother.”
“I wanted you suspicious.”
“You got more than that.”
Brenda looked at Mariana’s cheek.
For the first time, shame appeared.
“I didn’t know you would hit her.”
Andrew’s voice became cold.
“That is mine.”
Mariana looked at him.
He continued.
“Don’t take responsibility for what I did.”
It mattered.
Not enough.
But it mattered.
Detective Brooks arrested Brenda for evidence tampering and related offenses.
Before leaving, Brenda looked at Mariana.
“Eleanor still has the clasp.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Julian did.
“The clasp opens more than Box 317.”
Everyone turned.
He explained that Thomas had commissioned two locks using the same tiny key.
One for the bank box.
One for a compartment built into his private desk.
The desk remained at Vance Manor.
They rushed back.
Margaret led them into Thomas’s sealed study.
The desk had not been opened in years.
Inside the hidden compartment was a ledger.
Not money.
Names.
Payments.
Politicians.
Bankers.
Judges.
Inspectors.
The investment fraud had been protected by bribery.
Charles Sterling’s name appeared repeatedly.
Thomas’s too.
Then Andrew found Margaret’s name.
He stared at his mother.
“You knew.”
Margaret sat down.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“You protected Dad.”
“Yes.”
“You let Julian be blamed.”
“Yes.”
“You let everyone believe Eleanor was dead.”
Margaret began crying.
“I thought she was.”
Mariana looked at the final ledger page.
A recent handwritten entry had been added.
One name.
MARIANA VANCE.
Beside it:
$8,400,000.
Andrew stared.
“What does that mean?”
Mariana’s face went cold.
She finally understood where her transferred money had really gone.
Someone had redirected it after she moved it.
Someone wanted the ledger to make her look like part of the bribery network.
Then the study door closed behind them.
A woman’s voice said:
“It means she was supposed to take the fall.”
May you like
They turned.
Eleanor stood there.
