CHAPTER 4: THE LEDGER
Roman locked the study door while Mara opened the ledger on the desk.
Pages of handwritten payments filled the book.
Some went to company executives.
Others went to police officers, medical specialists, and journalists.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Dr. Samuel Vance.
Evelyn recognized it immediately.
“He signed my father’s death certificate.”
Mara nodded.
“Your father did not suffer a heart attack.”
Before Evelyn could ask more, glass shattered downstairs.
Men entered the house.
Roman pushed a bookcase in front of the study door.
“Is there another way out?”
Mara pointed toward the fireplace.
“Your father built a passage during the renovations.”
Roman found a hidden latch. Part of the wooden wall released, revealing a narrow staircase.
They entered just as the attackers began pounding against the study door.
The passage led beneath the house and opened near the old greenhouse.
Roman hurried them toward the woods.
A gunshot struck the greenhouse glass above their heads.
“Keep moving!”
They reached Roman’s vehicle and sped down a service road while the other vehicles searched the main driveway.
Evelyn held the ledger against her chest.
“Who knew we were coming?”
“No one,” Roman said.
Mara looked through the rear window.
“Then Adrian has someone close to you.”
They reached a secure apartment before dawn.
Investigator Torres arrived with two trusted officers. She photographed every page of the ledger and immediately began verifying the payments.
“This could expose half the city,” she said.
Evelyn turned to Mara.
“What happened to my father?”
Mara sat silently for a moment.
“Dr. Vance visited him that evening. Your father was healthy before the visit. An hour later, he was struggling to breathe.”
“You saw it?”
“I saw Vance leaving. Adrian arrived shortly afterward.”
Roman frowned.
“Adrian claimed he was in Boston that night.”
“He wasn’t.”
Evelyn’s stomach tightened.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“I tried. The first detective I contacted was paid two hundred thousand dollars three days later. Then my son was followed home from school.”
Mara looked at Evelyn with tears in her eyes.
“I became afraid.”
Torres closed the ledger.
“Adrian will not remain in custody long. We need to move before his attorneys bury this.”
A loud knock sounded at the apartment door.
One of the officers checked the security camera.
“It’s Naomi Reed.”
Naomi was Evelyn’s personal attorney and closest friend.
She entered carrying a laptop.
“Adrian’s been released on emergency bail,” she said. “And he has already filed a petition claiming Evelyn is mentally incompetent.”
Naomi placed the laptop on the table.
The screen displayed a signed medical evaluation declaring Evelyn delusional, violent, and incapable of managing her inheritance.
The physician’s name appeared at the bottom.
Dr. Samuel Vance.
May you like
But the most shocking signature was beneath his.
Roman Hart.
