Chapter 17 - THE BOARDROOM TRAP
I knew the faces around the Vance Holdings board table.
Some had watched me grow from a teenager sweeping construction floors into an executive who signed billion-dollar contracts.
Others had arrived after my marriage.
All had stood by while I was convicted of killing my father.
Clara identified one member as the architect of the offshore scheme.
His name was Graham Ellison.
He had served as the board's independent chairman for eleven years.
He used to send my father handwritten birthday notes.
Now investigators believed he had approved the transfer of assets tied to missing women's identities.
Ward could not arrest him on Clara's testimony alone.
The underlying records were still concealed within the protected archive.
Rose knew part of the access method.
Clara held the second half.
Together they could open the records, but only from a specific offline terminal at Vance Holdings headquarters.
I suggested a controlled access operation with a court order and federal supervision.
Ward understood the risk.
Ellison would learn that Clara and Rose were alive the moment the system registered their credentials.
“He could destroy everything,” Harrison warned.
“He's already trying,” I said.
The operation was scheduled during an emergency board meeting called to discuss replacing Silas as acting executive vice president.
Ellison arrived confident that the investigators would find no proof in the company systems.
Silas attended under a court-approved security escort because financial charges had finally restricted his travel.
I watched the feed from a protected room inside the courthouse.
Ellison complained that the federal government was destroying shareholder value.
Silas nodded sympathetically.
Then Ward entered with a technician carrying the offline terminal.
She presented the warrant and announced the archive preservation order.
Ellison stood abruptly.
“You have no authority to open private beneficiary records.”
“Then you should be relieved,” Ward said.
“The court granted us that authority.”
Rose entered a code from a protected location.
Clara supplied the final authorization.
The terminal displayed hundreds of concealed transactions.
Then it displayed a separate category labeled TERMINATION EXPENSES.
The screen listed names, dates, and payments associated with threats, abductions, and deaths.
At the top was Diana Cross.
Near the bottom was Arthur Vance.
Beside my father's name was a transaction approval bearing Ellison's digital certificate.
Silas looked toward the emergency exit.
Ellison did not move.
He simply reached inside his jacket.
May you like
And the courtroom security feed went black.
