Chapter 12 - The Letter
I opened my father's letter on a bench inside Union Station.
Daniel sat beside me.
AMELIA,
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, I FAILED TO FINISH SOMETHING.
One board member willing to trade access for donations.
Grant brought money.
Evelyn brought votes.
Peter brought hospital finance access.
And people like Lily's mother, Maria Chen, saw pieces before anyone understood the whole.
Maria worked accounts payable at Lakeshore Memorial.
Two weeks later, she was fired for "performance issues."
My father believed the termination was retaliation.
She refused.
She was tired of being afraid.
Then came the sentence I had to read twice.
DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID. I PROTECTED THE INSTITUTION LONGER THAN I PROTECTED THE PEOPLE INSIDE IT.
At the end, he gave me one instruction.
LISTEN TO THE STAFF BEFORE YOU LISTEN TO THE BOARD.
That was why I had put on the server uniform.
Not because I knew about the letter.
Because somewhere inside me, I had learned the same lesson from him.
Daniel's phone rang.
Brooks.
Evelyn's plane had been stopped before takeoff.
She was in custody for questioning.
Peter Lang had also been found.
He was hiding at a hotel near O'Hare.
Grant Carlisle remained at the estate with his attorney.
Then Brooks said something that changed the case again.
"We searched Peter's room."
Daniel put her on speaker.
"What did you find?"
"Copies of internal foundation emails. Amelia's travel schedule. Board voting projections."
"Anything else?"
A pause.
"A folder marked CROSS - SUCCESSION."
My stomach tightened.
"What's in it?"
Brooks answered carefully.
"A plan to remove you as chair for financial mismanagement after the reserve breach."
Daniel looked at me.
"How old is the file?"
May you like
"Created fourteen months ago."
Four months before my father died.
