Chapter 13 - The Lake House
Richard owned a lake house in Wisconsin that had not been used since Margaret died.
Sophia knew that.
What she apparently also knew was that Richard stored old corporate archives in a locked room beneath the garage.
Dana called local police while Ethan drove north with Richard.
They arrived to smoke.
A side window had been broken.
Inside the archive room, a metal trash bin burned near a wall of file cabinets.
The sprinkler system had contained most of it.
A man ran through the rear door.
Ethan chased him across wet grass.
"Stop!"
The man slipped near the dock and went down hard.
Police arrived seconds later.
He was Marcus Vale, Julian's longtime driver.
In his backpack were lighter fluid, copied keys, and a list of file numbers.
One number was circled.
MW-17.
Richard knew it immediately.
Margaret Whitmore - personal estate correspondence.
They opened the damaged cabinet.
File MW-17 was still there.
Inside were letters Margaret had exchanged with Harold Mercer's wife years after the fraud case.
Margaret had secretly paid for Sophia and Julian's college tuition.
Ethan read the receipts twice.
"Mom helped them?"
Richard nodded.
"She believed children shouldn't pay for their father's crime."
One final letter had never been mailed.
Margaret wrote directly to Sophia.
Your father was responsible for what happened to your family, not Richard. Anger can keep you alive for a while, but if you build your life around revenge, eventually you will need innocent people to keep feeding it.
Ethan closed his eyes.
Sophia had known.
She had accepted Margaret's money.
Then married Margaret's son.
A deputy entered holding a small hard drive found beneath Marcus's seat.
"This was in the car."
Dana connected it to a laptop.
It contained financial ledgers from Northline Advisory.
And one folder labeled E.W. CONTINGENCY.
Inside was a life-insurance application on Ethan.
May you like
Beneficiary: Sophia Whitmore.
Policy amount: twenty-five million dollars.
