Chapter 10 - The Second Set of Books
I had not seen Thomas's handwriting in eleven years without feeling the urge to reach for him.
He wrote his capital letters with a distinctive forward tilt, and he always crossed his sevens.
The photograph was real.
The message on the back was real, too.
But I couldn't tell when he had written it or why someone had sent it now.
Rebecca examined the paper under the desk lamp.
"Let's authenticate the context before we draw conclusions," she said.
Marcus remembered a locked storage cabinet in the old accounting annex.
Thomas had used it for personal notes during the lodge's earliest renovations.
I had forgotten it existed.
We crossed a narrow hallway that smelled faintly of cedar and old plaster.
Inside the cabinet, beneath invoices from the property's opening year, lay a slim black ledger.
The first pages contained ordinary handwritten notes about building supplies and seasonal occupancy.
Near the back, Thomas had documented a company called Summit Mountain Services.
It was not the same legal entity as Vale's Summit Hospitality Partners, but the similarity looked deliberate.
Thomas had circled three vendor charges and written: CHECK BENEFICIAL OWNERS.
He had also recorded the name of an outside accountant, Victor Vale.
"Related to Adrian?" Marcus asked.
Rebecca searched her notes.
"Victor was Adrian's father. He lost his accounting license after an unrelated fraud case years ago."
A memory rose through the fog.
Thomas had once fired an adviser for presenting false construction expenses.
I remembered the argument, the angry letter, and Thomas's insistence that the lodge remain independent.
I did not remember the name.
Now I did.
Vale wasn't simply after a profitable hotel.
He was trying to finish a fight that had started while Thomas was alive.
Daniel leaned against the wall.
"Madison said Adrian was helping us refinance our house."
"Does she know his family history?" Rebecca asked.
"I don't know."
My phone lit up with an unknown number.
The message contained one sentence: ASK MADISON WHAT SHE PROMISED HIM IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR SIGNATURE.
Then came a photograph of Lily standing in the hotel library.
May you like
It had been taken less than five minutes earlier.
