Chapter 10 - The Man Behind the LoansGideon Pike had an office overlooking the Connecticut River.
Its floor-to-ceiling windows gave visitors the impression that the city existed for his convenience.
Claire had never liked him.
Even as a teenager, she had noticed the way he spoke to her father in private and to everyone else in public.
With Hugh, he was deferential.
With employees, he was impatient.
With Ruth, he was charming.
With Evan, he was something closer to an accomplice.
Now, sitting opposite Rebecca, Claire studied a photograph of Gideon taken at a business awards ceremony.
He was standing beside Evan.
Both men were smiling.
“Marshline Development is tied to him?” Claire asked.
Rebecca nodded.
“Corporate records show overlapping management addresses and business relationships. We're investigating the ownership structure. I don't want to claim he controls the buyer until we have sufficient documentation.”
“Why buy the mill through another company?”
“One possible reason would be to acquire the property below market value while concealing a conflict of interest.”
Claire looked at the valuation report Rebecca had commissioned.
The preliminary appraisal estimated that the mill and associated parcels might be worth between thirteen and fifteen million dollars, depending on leases, environmental conditions, and financing obligations.
Seven-point-two million was far below that range.
But the low offer was only part of the problem.
The trust already carried substantial debt.
Selling cheaply could leave the beneficiaries with far less than the property should have produced.
And if Gideon had an undisclosed interest in the buyer, the transaction could benefit him while harming the trust.
Rebecca laid out a diagram.
At the center stood the Bellamy Family Trust.
Beneath it was the trust-owned company holding the mill.
Another arrow pointed toward Bellamy Property Group, Evan's management company.
Additional arrows led to Northline Systems and several consulting vendors.
Claire stared.
“Where did the money go?”
“We've identified suspicious payments, but the full tracing will require bank records and a forensic accountant.”
“What do you have now?”
“Enough to justify asking serious questions.”
Claire felt impatient.
Serious questions seemed painfully inadequate when her daughter had been hurt.
Rebecca noticed.
“I know you want someone to tell you exactly what happened. But careful evidence is what prevents people like your brother from dismissing everything as a family misunderstanding.”
Claire nodded.
She hated that Rebecca was right.
That evening, Evan held a press conference.
Claire discovered it when her phone began vibrating with messages from former coworkers.
An online article appeared under a local business headline.
BELLAMY FAMILY DISPUTE THREATENS HISTORIC MILL REDEVELOPMENT.
Below it was a photograph of Evan speaking beneath the company logo.
The article quoted him expressing concern about “misinformation circulated during a difficult private family period.”
He had not named Claire.
He did not need to.
Several comments speculated about a bitter inheritance dispute.
Others praised Evan for protecting local jobs.
One wrote that wealthy families always destroyed their own legacies.
Claire stared at the screen.
Then a message arrived from a former friend.
Is it true you're trying to force your mom out of her house?
Claire put down the phone.
Evan had begun rewriting the story.
He wanted the public to see money.
Not the bruised six-year-old girl at the center of it.
The next morning, Claire met Margaret Ellis again.
This time, Rebecca attended.
Margaret brought a handwritten ledger that Hugh had maintained during the final months of his life.
It did not prove theft on its own.
But it identified transactions he wanted explained.
One line caught Claire's attention.
Northline Systems — archive installation — no authorization given.
Dated six weeks before Hugh's death.
Claire read it again.
“Dad didn't approve the cameras.”
“Not that installation,” Margaret said.
“Did Evan do it anyway?”
“I don't know. But the company paid the invoice.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Can you explain the accounting pattern?”
Margaret turned several pages.
“Equipment purchases were charged to properties where I couldn't verify equipment existed. Consulting fees were paid to vendors without adequate supporting work records. Some money moved between property accounts without the approvals I expected.”
“How much?”
“At the time I reviewed approximately four hundred thousand dollars in questionable transactions. I couldn't establish that all of it was improper. Later records could show more.”
Claire stared.
Four hundred thousand dollars.
Before her father died.
Before eight more years of management.
“How did Hugh respond?”
“He wanted to confront Evan after completing a proper review.”
“But he never did.”
Margaret shook her head.
“He became too ill.”
Claire thought of her father's hospital room.
Evan sitting beside the window with a laptop.
Ruth telling everyone not to upset him.
Hugh asking Claire whether the Ferry Mill still had tenants in the east wing.
She had thought he was confused.
Now she wondered whether he had been worried.
Margaret turned to the final page.
There was a note written in Hugh's hand.
Ask G.P. about duplicate guarantees.
Claire looked at Rebecca.
“Gideon Pike.”
Rebecca nodded.
Then Margaret pulled out another document.
A copy of a bank letter sent shortly before Hugh's death.
It referred to a proposed guarantee that would have exposed additional trust assets to a financing arrangement.
Hugh had written a single word across the top.
REFUSED.
Claire touched the ink.
Her father had said no.
Evan and Gideon had continued anyway.
Then Rebecca's phone rang.
She stepped into the hallway.
When she returned, her expression had changed.
“The bank's counsel contacted us.”
Claire stood.
“What happened?”
“They've received information suggesting the proposed mill sale may proceed through an accelerated closing.”
“When?”
“Within twelve days.”
Claire felt her pulse quicken.
“Can they do that?”
“Not necessarily. We're reviewing the transaction documents and what approvals are required.”
Claire looked at the photograph of Gideon.
For the first time, she understood the urgency.
The sale was not a convenient solution to a financial problem.
May you like
It might be the final step in concealing one.
And someone was willing to frighten her daughter to keep the past buried.
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