Chapter 5 - VANESSA KNEW THE TRUTH
The next morning, Vanessa Cole disappeared.
Her apartment was empty.
Her car was still in the garage.
Her phone was turned off.
Her passport was missing.
Dad called the police.
I called Peter.
Within an hour, we had discovered something even worse.
Vanessa had withdrawn nearly $1.2 million from various accounts during the previous forty-eight hours.
"She's running," Peter said.
"Or she's being moved," Dad answered.
I stared at the transaction records.
"Where?"
Peter pointed.
"Private aviation."
"Destination?"
"Unknown."
Then he looked at me.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"She used a Hayes Meridian account."
My stomach tightened.
"How?"
"Someone transferred the funds through a dormant vendor account."
I closed my eyes.
Daniel.
Everything still led back to him.
But I no longer believed he was acting alone.
That afternoon, I received a message.
FROM VANESSA:
I NEED TO TALK TO YOU.
I stared at it.
Another message came.
I WAS LIED TO TOO.
Dad read it.
"Don't meet her alone."
"I won't."
The location she gave me was a small hotel in Connecticut.
Dad's team followed.
I entered the lobby.
Vanessa sat in a corner wearing sunglasses.
She looked terrified.
When she saw me, she stood.
"I didn't know."
I remained standing.
"Didn't know what?"
"What Daniel was doing."
"You knew about the money."
"I knew he had money."
"You were paid through Northstar."
"I thought it was consulting."
"For eighteen months?"
She looked away.
"Daniel told me you were controlling."
I almost laughed.
"He told you I was controlling?"
"He said you were obsessed with your company."
"And you believed him."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I was in love with him."
The words were pathetic.
But honest.
"Did he love you?"
She looked at me.
"I thought he did."
"Do you now?"
"No."
She removed her sunglasses.
There were dark circles beneath her eyes.
"He never loved anyone."
I sat.
"What happened?"
Vanessa swallowed.
"Three weeks before your divorce, Daniel told me we were going to start over."
I said nothing.
"He promised me a house."
"Of course."
"He promised me a future."
"Of course."
"He said once you were gone, everything would be ours."
I looked at her.
"And the necklace?"
She began crying.
"He told me it was a celebration."
"It was money laundering."
"I know."
"How?"
"Because the jeweler called me after the card declined."
I stared.
"What did they say?"
"They said the company selling the necklace was owned by one of Daniel's holding entities."
"So you knew."
"I found out."
"When?"
"That night."
"Then why run?"
"Because Daniel called me."
"What did he say?"
"He said if I talked, I'd disappear."
I felt cold.
"Disappear?"
"He told me what happened to people who betrayed his family."
I thought of Thomas.
"What else?"
Vanessa reached into her purse.
She removed a small envelope.
"He gave me this."
I opened it.
Inside was a key.
"What's this?"
"A safe deposit box."
"Where?"
"Manhattan."
"Whose?"
"Yours."
My blood froze.
"What?"
Daniel had opened a safe deposit box in my name.
Vanessa shook her head.
"I don't know what's inside."
"Why give it to me?"
"Because I'm done."
She looked at me.
"I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder."
I took the key.
"Where's the box?"
She gave me the information.
Before leaving, she grabbed my arm.
"Emily."
I looked at her.
"There's one thing you need to know."
"What?"
"Daniel didn't want your money."
"I know."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You still don't understand."
"What?"
"He wanted something your mother left behind."
My heart stopped.
"The money?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Vanessa whispered,
"Names."
I stared.
"What names?"
"People."
"Which people?"
"The people who funded the original network."
I felt dizzy.
"Daniel wanted the list."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because whoever controls those names controls everything."
"And my mother had them?"
"She knew where they were."
I closed my eyes.
My mother had died without telling me.
Maybe because she had been protecting me.
Maybe because she knew someone was watching.
I looked at Vanessa.
"Where is Daniel?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Do you know where he was going?"
"Switzerland."
My stomach tightened.
"Why?"
"He said the money had to be moved."
"How much?"
"Eight million."
The original amount.
The money from Thomas.
I stood.
"We need that safe deposit box."
Vanessa nodded.
"I know."
When we reached the bank, my father was waiting.
The box was opened under police supervision.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
A passport.
And one handwritten list.
Names.
Thirty-two of them.
Executives.
Bankers.
Lawyers.
Politicians.
Business owners.
People who had been involved in the original network.
Dad read the list.
His expression changed.
"Some of these people are still active."
I looked at the final name.
Daniel Whitmore.
But beneath his name was another.
Margaret Sloan.
I stared.
"She was involved."
Dad closed his eyes.
"Yes."
Suddenly, the pieces fit.
Margaret hadn't merely helped Daniel.
She had helped build the pathway.
But there was something else.
A second note.
Written by my mother.
Emily,
If you are reading this, Daniel has failed to destroy the evidence.
Do not trust anyone who tells you the money belongs to you.
It doesn't.
It belongs to the people who were robbed.
Use it to expose them.
I began crying.
My mother had known.
She had expected this.
And she had trusted me to finish what she started.
Dad put his arm around me.
"I should have told you."
"I know."
"I'm sorry."
I looked at him.
"Help me finish it."
He nodded.
"I will."
That night, we learned Daniel had left the country.
But before he did, he transferred the remaining funds.
Eight million dollars.
Gone.
Peter traced the transfer.
The money had moved into a private trust.
Then another.
Then another.
Finally, it landed in an account connected to—
Me.
I stared at the screen.
"No."
Peter nodded.
"Someone wants you to look like the beneficiary."
Dad clenched his jaw.
"They're setting her up."
I looked at the final transfer.
The account was in Switzerland.
The beneficiary name was Emily Hayes.
And the transfer had been authorized using my digital signature.
I had never seen the account.
I had never authorized the transaction.
Yet on paper, the money belonged to me.
The next morning, federal investigators arrived at Dad's house.
They had a warrant.
I stared at the documents.
"What is this?"
The lead investigator looked at me.
"We need to ask you some questions about eight million dollars."
Dad stepped forward.
"She had nothing to do with it."
The investigator looked at him.
"We'll determine that."
I looked at the warrant.
Then at the account number.
Then at my signature.
And suddenly I understood.
May you like
Daniel hadn't just run away.
He had left me holding the evidence.
