Chapter 14 - THE BODY IN THE LAKE
The body was not Lena.
It was Caroline Voss.
Eleanor's niece.
Thirty-four.
Financial controller at one of Bellamy's private foundations.
The news devastated Eleanor.
Ava remembered meeting Caroline briefly at the gala.
Quiet.
Dark blonde hair.
Blue dress.
She had been seated two tables from Mark.
Police initially called the death suspicious.
Then forensic evidence changed the case.
Caroline had died before entering the water.
Sedatives were found in her system.
And in her apartment, investigators discovered copies of Meridian transaction records.
The same shell companies Ava had seen on the USB drive.
Lena's companies.
Bellamy's money.
Caroline had been the whistleblower.
Eleanor broke down when she realized it.
“She sent the envelope.”
The handwriting matched Caroline's.
Ask Mark what he did with your signature.
The USB drive.
The warning.
All Caroline.
Except one thing.
Caroline could not have placed the water glass inside Ava's apartment.
She was already dead by then.
Someone else had continued the intimidation after silencing the whistleblower.
Mark became the obvious suspect.
His affair with Lena linked him to the shell companies.
His credentials had deleted files.
His hostility toward Ava was public.
His business depended on the merger.
Bellamy remained untouched.
Ava saw the structure clearly.
Mark was being positioned as the fall guy.
The irony was almost unbearable.
The man who had spent years making Ava look unstable was now being shaped into the villain of somebody else's story.
“Are you going to help him?” Maya asked.
“No.”
“Good.”
“But I'm not going to lie to hurt him either.”
Maya nodded.
“That distinction matters.”
Mark requested another meeting.
This time Ava chose the location.
Haven's office.
He walked inside and saw photographs of women the organization had helped.
Anonymous quotes covered one wall.
I thought I was stupid because he controlled every account.
I didn't know debt could be abuse.
The first person who believed me changed my life.
Mark read them silently.
Ava watched him.
“Recognize anything?”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.”
For once she believed him.
He sat.
“I treated you badly.”
“That sentence is doing extraordinary work.”
“I know.”
“No, Mark. I don't think you do.”
He looked at her.
“I hated that you were better at the beginning.”
Ava froze.
“Better at what?”
“Meridian.”
The admission arrived quietly.
“You saw things I didn't. Bellamy noticed. Everyone did.”
“So you erased me.”
“I let him.”
“Then you repeated the lie until you believed it.”
“Yes.”
Ava's eyes burned.
“Why Lena?”
Mark looked toward the wall.
“She made me feel powerful.”
“Because she worked for Bellamy.”
“Yes.”
“Did she move money for him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“Not at first.”
“When did you know?”
“Two years ago.”
“Before the divorce finalized.”
“Yes.”
Ava's stomach turned.
“You hid the assets.”
“Yes.”
The confession should have felt victorious.
Instead Ava felt hollow.
“Why tell me now?”
Mark leaned forward.
“Because Caroline found where the money went.”
“Where?”
“Not to Lena.”
Ava frowned.
“She was a conduit.”
“For Bellamy?”
Mark shook his head.
“For somebody else.”
“Who?”
Before Mark could answer, the front window shattered.
Everyone dropped.
A brick landed on the floor.
Wrapped around it was a photograph.
Ava picked it up.
Eleanor Voss entering her home.
Across the photograph, written in red marker:
May you like
ONE WOMAN ALREADY DIED.
---
