Chapter 13 - The Last Person to See Richard
Damon’s first thought was murder.
Helen stopped him.
“Nothing in Richard’s medical records suggests foul play.”
“I know.”
“Then do not create a crime because the timing feels sinister.”
Damon hated how reasonable she was.
Richard had longstanding heart disease.
He died at home the morning after Gerald Pierce’s visit.
There had been no signs of violence.
No suspicious medication.
No unexplained injury.
The medical examiner had not been involved because his physician certified a natural death consistent with known disease.
Still, the meeting mattered.
Gerald Pierce agreed to speak only after receiving a letter from outside counsel stating he was not being compelled.
He arrived with his own attorney.
He looked older than Damon remembered.
And scared.
“What did you discuss with my father?” Damon asked.
Gerald’s attorney glanced at him.
Gerald answered.
“Hawthorne.”
“Why?”
“Richard called me.”
“Why would he call someone he suspected helped Vincent?”
Gerald lowered his eyes.
“Because I did help Vincent.”
Felicity, attending with her attorney, inhaled sharply.
Gerald continued.
“At first I thought we were moving costs between projects. That happens.”
“Not like this.”
“No.”
“When did you realize?”
“Maybe ten years ago.”
“And you kept helping.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Gerald swallowed.
“Money.”
No coercion.
No family secret.
Just money.
Vincent had paid him approximately $420,000 over eight years.
Damon appreciated the ugliness of the answer because it was clean.
“What did Richard want?”
“He wanted documents.”
“Did you give them?”
“Some.”
“What kind?”
“Vendor-setup forms. Emails. Original bids.”
“Where are they?”
“I gave them to Richard.”
“When?”
“That night.”
Damon leaned forward.
“Those records weren’t in Unit 314.”
Gerald frowned.
“He said he wasn’t putting them with the other papers.”
“Where?”
“He didn’t tell me.”
“Did Vincent know you met?”
Gerald’s eyes shifted.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I told him.”
Damon stared.
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I was trying to protect myself from both sides.”
“You confessed to Richard and then warned Vincent?”
Gerald looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“What did Vincent say?”
“He asked what I gave Richard.”
“And?”
“I told him.”
“What happened next?”
“He said he would handle it.”
Damon felt the room tighten.
“Handle what?”
“Richard.”
Gerald’s attorney raised a hand.
“My client is not suggesting violence.”
Gerald nodded quickly.
“No. Vincent said he’d talk to him.”
“Did he?”
“I don’t know.”
Richard’s phone records showed a seven-minute call from Vincent that evening.
Nothing more.
No evidence Vincent went to the house.
No evidence his death was anything other than natural.
Damon forced himself to accept that.
“What documents did you give Richard?”
Gerald listed them.
One mattered most.
A procurement ledger containing vendor creation dates and authorization initials.
The ledger could show who established shell vendors.
Richard had hidden it somewhere outside Unit 314.
“Did he mention Bellweather?” Damon asked.
“No.”
“His office?”
“No.”
Gerald thought.
“He said something strange.”
“What?”
“He said, ‘Vincent keeps looking where I keep papers. He never looks where Margaret kept promises.’”
Damon and Felicity exchanged a glance.
Margaret.
Again.
They returned to Bellweather.
This time Damon searched not for financial records, but for something associated with promises.
Wedding albums.
Letters.
Jewelry.
In Margaret’s dressing room stood an old white wardrobe.
Inside, hanging behind several dresses, was the garment bag containing her wedding gown.
Damon almost ignored it.
Then he remembered Richard’s phrase.
Where Margaret kept promises.
Wedding vows.
He unzipped the bag.
Nothing.
Felicity ran her fingers along the padded hanger.
Something clicked.
The hanger was unusually heavy.
Damon removed a small screw.
Inside the hollow wooden bar was a rolled sheet of paper sealed in plastic.
The procurement ledger pages.
Not the whole book.
Only six pages.
Enough.
Vendor approval initials beside Hawthorne Consulting.
V.H.
Carrow Site Services.
V.H.
Blue Ridge Utility.
V.H.
Merritt Civil.
V.H.
And one more company investigators had not yet identified.
Northstar Advisory.
Approval initials:
V.H.
Payments over eleven years:
$2.9 million.
Felicity whispered, “I’ve never heard of Northstar.”
Neither had Damon.
Nora traced it the following morning.
Northstar did not purchase land.
It did not employ subcontractors.
It did not pay Vincent directly.
Almost all of its money went into one investment account.
The account beneficiary had died nine years earlier.
Margaret Hale.
Damon stared at the report.
“That’s impossible.”
Nora shook her head.
May you like
“Someone kept using an account in your mother’s name after her death.”
And whoever had done it had moved nearly three million dollars through a dead woman.
