Chapter 5 - Her Signature
Charles did not call Isabella.
He sent Rachel the document instead.
Ten minutes later Isabella called him.
"I didn't know."
He let the silence answer first.
"Charles, I signed hundreds of pages for the gala and wedding planning. My father said those were internal reimbursements."
"Your signature is there."
"I know what my signature looks like."
"Then what do you want me to say?"
"That you believe I didn't knowingly steal from sick children."
He also remembered his mother's arms lowering in the church.
"I believe you might not have known where the money came from."
"Thank you."
"That doesn't fix today."
"I know."
That was the first honest thing she had said to him since the altar.
Eleanor was in the farmhouse kitchen making tea when Charles returned.
He told her about the signature.
"Do you think she knew?" Eleanor asked.
"I don't know."
"Then don't pretend you do."
"Mom, she humiliated you."
"Those are two separate things."
Charles sat at the old oak table.
"You don't have to defend her."
"I'm defending the truth."
That evening Rachel called an emergency foundation meeting.
The foundation's chief financial officer, Daniel Pierce, failed to answer his phone.
His office had been cleaned out.
Samuel stared at the empty desk.
"He knew the audit was coming."
Rachel opened a locked drawer.
Inside was one envelope addressed to Eleanor Bennett.
Eleanor came to the office and opened it herself.
A flash drive fell into her hand.
The note inside read:
MRS. BENNETT - I AM SORRY YOUR MONEY WAS USED TO COVER WHAT I COULDN'T STOP.
IF VICTOR SAYS I STOLE IT, OPEN THE FILE CALLED APRIL 2.
"Can we open it now?"
She inserted the drive.
The first file was a bank transfer.
The second was an audio recording.
May you like
Victor Whitmore's voice filled the room.
"Move the nine hundred before the board sees the gap."
