Chapter 14 - THE PARKING GARAGE
I called Daniel.
No answer.
Again.
Voicemail.
By the time police reached the parking garage outside Carter Industrial, his car was gone.
Security footage showed Daniel getting into the driver's seat at 10:08.
A man entered from the passenger side.
Victor.
They drove out together.
"He took him," Walter said.
I stared at the screen. "No. Daniel went willingly."
Walter looked at me.
"He saw Victor approach. He could've run back inside. He didn't."
My phone rang.
Daniel.
I answered immediately.
"Where are you?"
"Becca, listen to me."
Victor's voice sounded in the background. "Speaker."
Daniel obeyed.
"He wants me to sign my shares over to a holding company."
"Don't."
"He says he'll release everything about Mom if I don't."
I almost screamed.
"Daniel, everything is already coming out."
Silence.
Then Victor spoke.
"Not everything."
"What else do you have?"
"Ask Walter why Samuel Reed was auditing the employee fund in the first place."
Walter, standing beside me, closed his eyes.
Victor laughed softly. "There it is."
I looked at Walter. "What is he talking about?"
Walter sat down.
"I told Samuel to investigate."
"So?"
"Because I already suspected Evelyn."
Daniel heard him through the phone.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"And you let Mom keep handling company money?"
Walter's voice cracked. "I was afraid of scandal."
Daniel made a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob.
"Of course you were."
The call disconnected.
Police traced it to a riverfront storage complex.
As officers moved out, I stopped Walter.
"This family didn't get here because Evelyn is uniquely evil."
He stared at me.
"She did terrible things. But every time one of you saw something wrong, you chose comfort."
He nodded slowly.
"You're right."
At the storage complex, police found Daniel's car.
Empty.
On the driver's seat was a signed share-transfer agreement.
May you like
Daniel's signature was at the bottom.
And beside it was blood.
