Chapter 4 - The Phone
Vanessa refused to surrender the phone.
So no one took it.
Adrian was angry.
Evelyn was smarter.
“You leave with it,” she said, “but you are no longer staying at this house.”
Vanessa stared.
“You’re throwing me out?”
Adrian answered.
“Yes.”
Her eyes snapped toward him.
“Over a kick?”
“No.”
He pointed at the paused image of Daniel Reece.
“Over that.”
Vanessa left.
Marcus Hale tried to follow.
Naomi blocked the hallway.
“Not you.”
Marcus frowned.
“You don’t work security.”
“Neither do you anymore.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Is she right?”
Marcus’s face collapsed.
He had accepted money.
Not much.
Five thousand dollars.
Then another five.
Vanessa told him she wanted privacy from paparazzi and guests.
He believed the story because he wanted to.
Naomi asked:
“Did you shut off cameras only tonight?”
Marcus looked away.
“No.”
“How many times?”
“Four.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Dates.”
He gave them.
All matched major foundation events.
Adrian called the family attorney.
Then the foundation auditor.
The next morning, records were frozen.
Vanessa’s access was revoked.
Daniel Reece denied everything.
Then one banking report arrived.
A company called Brighton Advisory had received $640,000 from the Cole Foundation over eight months.
Registered owner:
Graham Pike.
Former Cole Group CFO.
Fired three years earlier.
Adrian remembered him.
So did Evelyn.
“He hated your father,” she said.
Adrian frowned.
“Dad fired him.”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at the statement.
“Your father was investigating him.”
Adrian stared.
“Investigating what?”
“Missing money.”
The room went quiet.
Thomas Cole had died two years earlier.
Heart attack.
Sudden.
No scandal.
No unfinished case anyone knew about.
Then Naomi remembered a line from one of Vanessa’s recordings.
Daniel Reece had said:
“Thomas almost found it.”
May you like
She looked at Adrian.
“Your father knew.”
