Chapter 3 - The Family Business
Emma sat on an overturned bucket while I spread the papers across an old wooden workbench.
Derek's name appeared again and again.
Sometimes it was Derek Hale.
Sometimes Derek M. Hale.
Once it was D. Michael Hale.
All three versions used the same birth date.
The same Social Security number appeared on two financial documents.
The women were different.
Allison Reed.
Rebecca Sloan.
Marissa Cole.
Large transfers appeared shortly after dates marked beside their names.
$62,000.
$118,500.
$210,000.
"What am I looking at?" I asked.
Emma rubbed her hands together nervously.
"My family calls it helping Derek get established."
"I call it fraud."
"So did my father."
That surprised me.
"Your father is Marcus?"
She nodded.
"The man blocking the gate?"
"He doesn't know what I know."
I studied the papers.
"Where did you get these?"
"My grandfather kept records of everything."
"Why?"
"Because he didn't trust Brenda."
That name seemed to darken the room by itself.
Emma pointed toward a faded ledger.
"My grandfather built Hale Restoration thirty-eight years ago."
I knew the company.
Derek had described it as a family contracting business.
What he had never mentioned was that it had once been worth millions.
"Brenda married into the family when Derek was twelve," Emma continued.
"After Grandpa got sick, she gradually took control of the books."
"And Derek?"
"Learned from her."
A branch scraped against the cottage window.
I jumped.
Emma lowered her voice.
"The company started losing money six years ago."
"How much?"
"Nobody knows."
I looked at the photocopies.
"Enough that Derek needed rich wives."
Emma said nothing.
That was answer enough.
My $45,000 suddenly felt less like a wedding gift and more like bait.
I reached into my backpack and touched the envelope containing the cashier's check.
"Did he know about my check?"
"Brenda did."
"How?"
Emma looked ashamed.
"Your mother mentioned it during the rehearsal dinner."
Of course she had.
My mother had been proud.
She had whispered to Brenda that my father wanted me to have something completely in my own name.
A safety net.
Brenda had smiled and said how thoughtful it was.
Now I knew what she had really been thinking.
Forty-five thousand dollars.
Emma gathered the papers.
"There's more in Derek's office."
"Where?"
"Third floor."
I stared at her.
She stared back.
"No."
"Emma."
"You need to get off this property."
"I need evidence."
"You already have evidence."
"I have photocopies that a defense attorney could call stolen or incomplete."
"Chloe, listen to me."
I closed the folder.
"If Allison is still married to him, yesterday's ceremony may have been a fraud."
"Exactly."
"And if he planned to get access to my money through that fraud, I want proof before he knows I've figured it out."
Emma looked toward the house.
Then she said something I hadn't expected.
"If we go back inside, there's something else you need to know."
"What?"
May you like
She took a long breath.
"The bedroom he locked you in has been used before."
