Chapter 12 - The Last Argument“I heard shouting.”
Thomas sat at the long kitchen table in Hale House while Detective Ortiz recorded the interview.
Ethan stood at the window.
Danielle sat beside him.
Thomas looked uncomfortable.
“You never told me this,” Ethan said.
“No, sir.”
“Why?”
“Because your father and mother shouted often.”
That was true enough to hurt.
“Who was he arguing with?”
“Mrs. Hale.”
“About Martin?”
“I heard Mr. Cole’s name.”
“What exactly?”
Thomas rubbed his hands together.
“Your father said, ‘Martin is finished.’ Mrs. Hale told him removing Mr. Cole would destroy the company.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
Thomas looked at Danielle.
“He said, ‘Danielle was right.’”
Danielle lowered her eyes.
Ethan swallowed.
“What happened after?”
“Mrs. Hale left the library.”
“When?”
“Approximately four-thirty.”
“Martin was supposed to meet him at four-thirty.”
“I did not see Mr. Cole arrive.”
“Could he have?”
“Yes. There is a side entrance.”
Ortiz leaned forward.
“What happened at 4:52?”
“I heard something fall.”
Thomas’s face tightened at the memory.
“I went into the library. Mr. Hale was on the floor.”
“Was anyone else present?”
“No.”
“Did you call 911?”
“Immediately.”
“Did Mrs. Hale return?”
“About ten minutes later.”
Ethan frowned.
“From where?”
“I don't know.”
Danielle looked at him.
Ethan understood.
Evelyn had always said she had been upstairs when Arthur collapsed.
Thomas had just placed her away from the house.
Ortiz asked, “Did she say where she'd been?”
“No.”
“Did you see Martin that evening?”
“No.”
“Anything unusual in the library?”
Thomas thought.
“The blue ledger was gone.”
“You knew he kept it there?”
“Yes.”
“Yet later he gave it to you.”
“Months earlier.”
Ortiz clarified the dates.
That mattered.
Arthur had begun suspecting Martin long before the final confrontation.
The ledger was not something removed on the day of the stroke because Arthur had already hidden it with Thomas.
One apparent mystery disappeared.
Another remained.
Where had Evelyn gone?
Evelyn answered the question herself that afternoon.
She had driven to St. Matthew’s Church.
Samuel Pike nearly dropped his pen.
“You left a fight with your husband and went to church?”
“I didn't go to pray.”
“Then why?”
“To meet Martin.”
Detective Ortiz watched through the interview-room glass.
Samuel leaned toward Evelyn.
“You need to stop revealing crimes in installments.”
“I met him in the parking lot.”
“Why?”
“Arthur was going to fire him.”
“And remove you from the board.”
“Yes.”
“What did Martin say?”
“That Arthur was panicking.”
“Did he suggest stopping Arthur?”
Evelyn stared.
“No.”
“Did he threaten him?”
“No.”
“Did you return home before Arthur collapsed?”
“No.”
“Can anyone verify you were in the parking lot?”
“Martin.”
Samuel sighed.
“Wonderful.”
Evelyn’s eyes flashed.
“I did not hurt Arthur.”
“I didn't say you did.”
“You were thinking it.”
“So will police.”
She looked away.
“I loved my husband.”
Samuel let out a tired breath.
“Evelyn, love is not a forensic defense.”
“No.”
Her voice became quieter.
“But I loved him even when I hated him.”
For once Samuel believed her.
Later that day, Detective Ortiz obtained cell-tower records.
Evelyn’s phone had indeed been near St. Matthew’s when Arthur collapsed.
Martin’s phone had been there too.
Whatever they had done wrong, neither appeared to have been at Hale House.
Arthur’s stroke remained what it had always most likely been.
A stroke.
Ethan felt relief so strong it embarrassed him.
His father had kept secrets.
He had broken banking rules.
He had failed to protect his family from financial corruption until it was nearly too late.
But nobody had killed him.
Some tragedies did not need a murderer.
The relief lasted three hours.
Then forensic accountants discovered where part of the missing money had gone.
Four million dollars had entered an entity called WBR Holdings.
Its beneficial owner was hidden behind a trust company.
A subpoena exposed the name.
Evelyn Hale.
Ethan confronted her at Samuel’s office.
She looked at the document.
“I've never heard of WBR Holdings.”
“It belongs to you.”
“No.”
“Your Social Security number is on the beneficial-ownership form.”
“I didn't create it.”
“Your signature is here.”
She looked closer.
For the first time, anger replaced fear.
“That signature is real.”
Ethan stared.
“So you did sign it.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“I don't know.”
“You signed papers creating a company and don't remember?”
“I signed hundreds of documents Martin put in front of me.”
Danielle laughed bitterly.
“There it is.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“What?”
“The family defense.”
“What family defense?”
“I signed it but I didn't read it. I approved it but I didn't understand it. I pressed the button but I thought it would stop.”
Evelyn went pale.
Danielle stepped closer.
“At what point does something become your fault?”
Nobody answered.
Detective Ortiz’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression changed.
“Where?”
A pause.
“Don't touch anything.”
She ended the call.
“What?” Ethan asked.
Ortiz looked at Evelyn.
“Police found WBR Holdings’ original corporate records.”
“Where?”
“In a storage unit rented by Martin Cole.”
Evelyn almost smiled.
Then Ortiz continued.
“The unit also contains surveillance photographs of Danielle.”
Danielle stiffened.
“And?”
Ortiz looked at her.
“Photographs of Mia.”
May you like
She paused.
“Some were taken before Arthur died.”
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