Chapter 10 - Julia's Beach House
The beach house sat behind a row of cypress trees thirty miles north of Malibu.
Richard had never seen it.
That hurt more than he expected.
Julia had owned a place he knew nothing about.
A place she had used because she did not feel safe in their home.
Vanessa opened the door before Richard reached it.
He pushed past her.
Leo was sitting on the floor with a bowl of cereal.
"Daddy!"
Richard dropped to his knees.
Leo ran into him.
Richard held him so tightly Anna saw Vanessa look away.
"You're okay," Richard whispered. "You're okay."
Then he stood and faced Vanessa.
"You're going to the police."
"Yes."
"You're going to tell them everything."
"Yes."
"Including what you did to him."
Vanessa looked at Leo.
"Yes."
Anna did not forgive her.
But she believed her fear.
Vanessa led them into a small office at the back of the house.
A filing cabinet had been ripped open.
"Nathan has been here," she said.
"When?"
"Before me."
"Then why bring us?"
"Because he missed something."
She knelt beside an old floor vent and removed the grate.
Inside was a thumb drive wrapped in plastic.
Richard stared.
"How did you know?"
Vanessa looked ashamed.
"Julia showed me."
Anna felt anger rise.
"You knew her."
"Yes."
"How well?"
Vanessa swallowed.
"I worked for Dr. Porter. Julia came to the clinic because she thought someone was dosing her. She suspected Margaret at first."
Richard looked toward the drive.
"Was she right?"
"No."
"Then why did she say Margaret's name in the voicemail?"
"Because Margaret found out Julia was investigating the company. She tried to stop her. But she wasn't the one putting drugs in Julia's drinks."
"Who was?"
Vanessa's eyes filled.
"Nathan."
Richard laughed bitterly. "Nathan wasn't pouring her coffee."
"Dr. Porter was. Nathan paid her."
Vanessa sat down.
"I found out. I should've told Julia immediately. Instead I went to Nathan and demanded money to keep quiet."
Anna stared at her.
"You blackmailed him."
"Yes."
"And then you dated Richard."
Vanessa looked at Richard.
"Nathan arranged that too. He wanted me close. After Julia died, he said if I kept Richard calm and kept him away from the trust, he'd protect me."
Richard's face hardened.
"You built a relationship with me because he told you to?"
"At first."
"Don't."
Vanessa stopped.
Tom plugged the thumb drive into an offline laptop.
Folders appeared.
Bank transfers.
Medical logs.
Security exports.
One video file.
JULIA_FINAL_2.
Richard clicked it.
Julia appeared seated in this very room.
She looked exhausted.
"Richard, if you're seeing this, I was right about the trust. Nathan has been using Leo's future shares as collateral for shell-company loans."
Richard's eyes widened.
Julia continued.
"Margaret knows the company books are dirty. She thinks she can contain it. She can't."
Then Julia leaned closer to the camera.
"The person I haven't figured out is you."
Richard froze.
Anna looked at him.
Julia's voice softened.
"There are transfers signed with your authorization code. Millions of dollars. If you knowingly approved them, I don't know you anymore."
The video ended.
No one spoke.
Richard stared at the black screen.
The conspiracy had just reached him.
---
The next chapters are on the left side of your screen.
If you enjoyed the story, bookmark my site: https://metro.treeiq.biz
May you like
New stories are posted daily, so check back for updates.
