Chapter 10 - The Safe Deposit Box
Eleanor agreed to take us to the bank.
Getting Richard there without revealing his progress required careful planning.
He remained in the wheelchair.
I accompanied him as caregiver.
Eleanor carried the key.
The box contained three envelopes.
One was addressed to Richard.
One to Eleanor.
The third had no name.
Richard opened his first.
Inside were copies of business contracts, insurance documents, and handwritten notes.
His expression changed as he read.
“What is it?”
I asked.
He turned one page toward me.
A contract between Vitalis Health and a consulting company called EVC Strategic Holdings.
EVC.
Ethan Vance Consulting.
The contract predated Richard’s accident by four months.
“Two million dollars.”
I whispered.
Richard nodded.
“For consulting services that were never performed.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
“My God.”
Another document showed proposed changes to Richard’s rehabilitation company contracts.
If signed, Vitalis would have received exclusive rights to provide equipment across thirteen facilities.
Richard had rejected the agreement.
Below his signature line was a handwritten note.
DO NOT APPROVE UNTIL INDEPENDENT SAFETY REVIEW.
I recognized the handwriting from forms in his office.
Richard continued through the envelope.
Then he stopped.
A photograph slipped onto the table.
Four men stood outside a downtown restaurant.
Richard.
Ethan.
A Vitalis executive.
And Michael.
The date was seven weeks before the crash.
I stared at my former husband.
“I thought you said you barely remembered Michael.”
Richard looked toward me.
“I didn’t.”
“You met him.”
“I met hundreds of people.”
Eleanor picked up another page.
“This is your father’s handwriting.”
Richard looked over.
The note was nearly ten years old.
His father had written about Ethan.
He warned that Ethan had begun secretly borrowing money from family businesses.
He described gambling debts.
Unauthorized transfers.
Threats.
At the bottom was one sentence.
Richard, protect your brother if you can, but never give him control of the family.
Richard sat completely still.
Eleanor began crying.
“I knew.”
He looked at her.
“You knew what?”
“That your father didn’t trust Ethan.”
Her voice broke.
“But after your father died, I kept begging you to give Ethan responsibility.”
“Because he was your son.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
Eleanor looked toward the documents.
“Now I think I helped him become the man your father feared.”
The unnamed envelope contained a memory card.
We took it back to the estate.
Inside Richard’s private office, we opened the files.
There was a single audio recording.
Richard’s voice filled the room.
It had been recorded before his accident.
“If you’re hearing this, something happened before I could finish the investigation.”
I looked at him.
He looked equally stunned.
The recording continued.
“I have reason to believe Ethan is receiving money from Vitalis Health in exchange for forcing an exclusive rehabilitation contract through Vance Recovery Group.”
Richard’s recorded voice became quieter.
“I also believe someone inside Vitalis is falsifying patient performance records.”
Then came the sentence none of us expected.
“Michael Carter approached me privately after the meeting.”
I stopped breathing.
“He told me not to sign anything.”
Richard turned toward me.
The recording continued.
“He says the equipment data cannot be trusted.”
My chest tightened.
Michael had warned Richard.
Before the crash.
The man who cheated on me had been a coward in our marriage.
But perhaps he had not been a murderer.
May you like
Then Richard’s recorded voice spoke again.
“If Michael is telling the truth, he may be in danger too.”
