Chapter 4 - THE TRUST
Victor Hale denied being at Liberty Oak Park.
His attorney provided hotel receipts from Chicago.
Amber produced photographs showing him at a business dinner Saturday night.
But the park video was Sunday afternoon.
There was no proof where Victor had been then.
Sarah remembered why Eleanor had warned her not to trust the first story.
She called Eleanor.
No answer.
She drove to Eleanor’s house.
The door was unlocked.
Eleanor sat in the living room with a legal folder on her lap.
“You should not be here,” she said.
“Why did you change your statement?”
Eleanor looked toward the window.
“Because Amber threatened Lily.”
Sarah went still.
“What did she say?”
“That if I accused her, Lily would lose both parents.”
Victor and Amber had been fighting over custody for a year. Eleanor believed Amber could use any criminal investigation to claim Victor had acted alone and then move Lily out of state.
“What does Caleb have to do with the trust?”
Eleanor opened the folder.
The Carter Family Trust controlled forty-one percent of Carter Foods.
Michael and Amber each owned personal shares.
But the trust would eventually pass voting control to the grandchildren.
Under the newest draft, Caleb would become the primary voting beneficiary at age twenty-five because Michael was the eldest child and Caleb was his only child.
Lily would receive equal financial value but less voting authority.
Sarah frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It was my husband’s structure,” Eleanor said. “He believed one voting block would prevent the company from being torn apart.”
“Amber knew?”
“Yes.”
“Did Victor?”
“I think so.”
Sarah realized what Caleb represented.
Not just money.
Control.
Eleanor continued.
“I planned to change it. Equal voting rights for Caleb and Lily.”
“Then why would Amber target Caleb?”
Eleanor looked sick.
“Because I changed it again.”
Three weeks earlier, Eleanor discovered questionable transfers from Carter Foods to consulting firms connected to Amber.
She revised the trust so Amber’s branch would receive no voting rights until an independent audit was completed.
Caleb’s future control increased.
Amber found out.
Sarah stood.
“We go to police.”
Eleanor grabbed her arm.
“There’s more.”
She showed Sarah a letter.
It was supposedly written by Michael.
In it, Michael asked Eleanor to remove Sarah as Caleb’s guardian if anything happened to him, claiming Sarah had “unstable episodes.”
Sarah read it twice.
“This is fake.”
“I believed that too.”
“Believed?”
Eleanor opened another envelope.
Inside was a notarized affidavit.
Michael’s signature appeared at the bottom.
May you like
And Sarah recognized the notary.
Victor Hale.
