Chapter 8 - MARTIN'S WARNING
Martin did not enter the room.
He simply watched them through the glass.
Then he turned and walked away.
Evan ran after him.
"Martin!"
Claire called security.
Helen stood in the hallway clutching the locket.
"He knows."
"Good," Evan said.
"No, Evan. You don't understand him."
"Then make me understand."
Helen looked toward Raymond's room.
"Martin was always the one Robert called when something needed to disappear."
Claire stared at her mother.
"People?"
"Problems. Documents. Lawsuits."
"Mara?"
Helen did not answer.
They took the microfilm to an old photography lab owned by a friend of Claire's.
Bank transfers.
Forged signatures.
And one memorandum written by Mara.
Martin is using Robert's name to move money.
Robert says he will confront him after the board meeting.
If Robert backs down, I will go to the police myself.
Two days before Mara died.
Claire leaned against the counter.
"So Martin had a reason."
"And a car," Evan said.
Robert Bennett acknowledges that Mara Ellis owns twenty-five percent of Bennett & Cole and that all past distributions owed to her will be restored.
Below Robert's signature was another name.
Witness: Helen Bennett.
Evan looked at Helen.
"You signed this."
"Yes."
"Then you knew her shares were real."
"Yes."
"And you let the company pretend they weren't."
Helen began to cry.
"After she died, Robert begged me not to destroy Claire's future."
Claire recoiled.
"Don't put that on me."
Helen looked at her daughter.
"I was afraid."
"You were angry," Evan said.
Helen did not deny it.
"I hated Mara."
"And some terrible part of me thought if her name disappeared, maybe the humiliation would disappear with it."
Then Claire's phone rang.
"What?"
She looked at Evan.
"Raymond's dead."
Evan's stomach dropped.
May you like
Claire listened another second.
"They said his oxygen line was disconnected."
