Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN AT THE GATE
By the third day, Helen had been released pending further investigation.
The police had enough evidence to suspect unlawful imprisonment.
But prosecutors wanted Evelyn’s medical evaluation completed before filing the most serious charges.
Helen returned to a hotel under instructions not to approach Evelyn, Tom, or Lily.
She violated the spirit of that order within six hours.
At 9:20 that evening, a black SUV stopped outside the Carter estate gate.
A woman stepped out.
She was approximately forty years old.
She carried no bag.
She asked the security guard to speak with Tom.
Her name was Claire Dawson.
Tom recognized it.
She had served as Evelyn’s executive assistant for twelve years.
She had disappeared from the company shortly before Evelyn did.
Helen told everyone Claire resigned.
Tom met her inside the gatehouse.
Claire looked exhausted.
“I saw the news.”
“Where have you been?”
“Hiding.”
“From Helen?”
Claire nodded.
Then she placed a phone on the table.
“I think she tried to have me killed.”
Tom stared at her.
Claire explained that Evelyn had asked her to copy financial records.
Three days later, Claire found her apartment broken into.
Nothing valuable was taken.
Only her laptop.
Then someone loosened two lug nuts on her car.
A mechanic caught it before the wheel came off.
Claire left town.
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“I had no proof connecting Helen.”
Claire slid the phone toward Tom.
“Now I do.”
On the screen was an audio recording.
Helen’s voice filled the room.
“You were supposed to scare her.”
A male voice answered.
“She left the city.”
“Then find her.”
Tom felt sick.
Claire paused the recording.
“That voice belongs to Victor Dane.”
Tom knew the implications.
If authenticated, the recording connected Helen directly to the developer benefiting from the discounted Carter land sale.
Claire had more.
Emails.
Internal accounting files.
Copies of altered meeting minutes.
One email from Martin Shaw instructed Helen to keep Evelyn “unavailable through closing.”
Another referred to a “temporary care arrangement.”
Tom pointed toward it.
“That means the cellar.”
Claire nodded.
“I think so.”
“How did they keep the staff from noticing?”
“Helen fired almost everyone who worked near your mother.”
Tom remembered.
Three housekeepers were dismissed after Evelyn supposedly left.
The groundskeeper resigned.
A security supervisor was replaced.
Helen said she was reducing expenses.
In reality, she had removed witnesses.
Claire looked toward the mansion.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“The land sale closes in four days.”
Tom stared at her.
“If Evelyn is alive, they can’t close.”
“They can if the court still recognizes the incapacity order.”
“But it’s fraudulent.”
“It hasn’t been overturned yet.”
Claire’s voice tightened.
“Helen knows that.”
Tom immediately called Evelyn’s attorney.
Then he remembered the warning.
DO NOT TRUST MARTIN.
There was no family attorney anymore.
The man who should have protected Evelyn was part of the scheme.
Tom looked toward Claire.
“We need someone outside the Carter network.”
Claire nodded.
“I already called one.”
A second vehicle approached the gate.
A woman stepped out carrying a leather briefcase.
Tom recognized her from television.
Rebecca Sloan.
Former federal prosecutor.
Corporate fraud specialist.
And the lawyer who had once dismantled Victor Dane’s biggest competitor.
She walked into the gatehouse.
“We have four days.”
May you like
Then she looked at Tom.
“And if your sister realizes what we have, she’ll move faster.”
