Chapter 9 - TWO DEATHS
The Morrow boating accident had never been investigated as a homicide.
Henry had fallen from his sailboat during a storm.
Lucinda, then twenty-two, had been on another boat nearby with friends.
At least, that was the official story.
Detective Cole reopened the archived report.
Within twenty-four hours, she found inconsistencies.
Lucinda’s friends had repeated almost identical statements.
Two later admitted they had been drinking heavily and could not actually remember when Lucinda arrived.
One witness had changed his account three times.
Another had died.
Henry’s original business partner, Andrew’s father, had ordered an internal audit after the accident.
The audit disappeared before it was completed.
Andrew sat in Caroline’s study surrounded by files.
“What was Bellweather back then?”
Nathan answered.
“A shell corporation.”
“Who created it?”
Nathan hesitated.
“Your father.”
Andrew stared at him.
Nathan continued.
“But Lucinda used it.”
“She was barely out of college.”
“She also worked part-time in your father’s finance office.”
Andrew leaned back.
He remembered Lucinda at twenty-two.
Brilliant.
Ambitious.
Always desperate to prove she belonged in the business world before anyone believed she was ready.
Nathan slid a page across the desk.
“Henry Morrow discovered approximately three hundred thousand dollars missing.”
“In today’s value, that would be significant.”
“Bellweather received the money.”
Andrew looked down.
“And Henry died before he could expose it.”
“Yes.”
Andrew rubbed his eyes.
“So Caroline discovered history repeating itself.”
Elizabeth stood beside the fireplace.
“She knew Lucinda had done this before.”
Andrew nodded.
“And she knew what happened to the last person who discovered it.”
That evening, Cole called.
They had located Martin Vale.
Not alive.
His remains had been found six weeks earlier near an abandoned quarry in Vermont.
Authorities had been unable to identify him until now.
Andrew felt cold.
“Cause of death?”
“Blunt-force trauma.”
“Estimated time?”
“Approximately six months ago.”
Two weeks after Martin resigned.
Cole continued.
“We found a storage unit rented under an alias connected to Vale.”
“What’s inside?”
“Mostly documents.”
“Some cash.”
“And a handwritten statement.”
Andrew gripped the phone.
“What does it say?”
Cole paused.
“It says Lucinda killed Caroline.”
Andrew closed his eyes.
“Is that enough to arrest her?”
“Not yet.”
“It’s a statement from a dead man.”
“We need physical evidence connecting Lucinda to the act itself.”
Andrew looked toward Alex sleeping upstairs.
“What about my son?”
“He’s an important witness.”
“But a defense attorney will attack his age, his trauma, and the seven-month delay.”
Andrew hated the answer because he knew it was true.
Cole continued.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Vale wrote that Caroline hid the transaction keys inside a piece of jewelry.”
Andrew immediately knew.
“The emerald pendant.”
“Yes.”
“And according to Vale, Lucinda never found what was inside.”
Andrew frowned.
“But the pendant disappeared.”
Cole said, “Maybe Lucinda took it.”
“Or maybe someone else did.”
Andrew looked through the open doorway at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth understood from his expression.
“What happened?”
Andrew lowered the phone.
“Martin says the evidence was in Caroline’s necklace.”
Elizabeth went still.
May you like
Andrew continued.
“And Lucinda apparently never found it.”
