Chapter 5 - WHAT HAPPENED TO THOMAS CARTER
Elena stopped breathing.
Rebecca stood beside the bed.
Detective Brooks remained near the monitor.
No one interrupted.
Mark looked exhausted.
Not remorseful.
Exhausted.
“What does that mean?” Elena asked.
Mark rubbed both hands across his face.
“Thomas found the missing funds.”
“Twelve million dollars.”
“It was more complicated.”
“Was Vanessa stealing from Carter?”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
Silence.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca turned away.
Elena remained still.
“How much?”
“Vanessa moved the money.”
“I structured the transactions.”
“You laundered it.”
“I protected it.”
“From what?”
“From discovery.”
Elena almost smiled.
Even now, Mark changed the language.
Stealing became moving.
Laundering became protecting.
Control became concern.
“What did my father discover?”
“He found the accounts.”
“Then what?”
“He hired Nathan.”
The private investigator.
“Nathan followed us.”
“Us?”
“Vanessa and me.”
“Because you were having an affair?”
“That wasn’t the important part.”
“To me it was.”
Mark looked down.
Elena continued.
“Did my father know you were already involved with Vanessa when you started dating me?”
“Yes.”
The answer struck harder than expected.
“And he didn’t tell me.”
“He tried.”
Elena remembered.
Thomas saying Mark’s interest had not begun with love.
She accused him of controlling her.
Mark had comforted her afterward.
He held her while she cried about her father.
He had known Thomas was telling the truth.
“Why did you marry me?”
Mark did not answer.
“Was any of it real?”
His voice softened.
“At some point, yes.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I didn’t expect to love you.”
Rebecca made a disgusted sound.
Elena stared into the screen.
“What did you expect?”
“To stabilize the company relationship.”
“You married me for access.”
“Initially.”
The word was brutal because it was honest.
“Then Dad discovered everything.”
“Yes.”
“What happened the night he died?”
Mark looked toward someone outside the camera.
Probably his attorney.
Elena noticed.
“If you hide behind privilege now, I will never speak to you again.”
That landed.
Mark looked back.
“Vanessa arranged a meeting.”
“Where?”
“At Thomas’s hotel.”
“Why?”
“She wanted him to stop the audit.”
“How?”
“She intended to frighten him.”
“With what?”
“Photographs.”
“Of?”
“You.”
Elena frowned.
“What photographs of me?”
“Private ones.”
Her stomach turned.
Mark had secretly photographed her?
Then she understood.
The hidden cameras in their home.
“Were you recording me?”
Mark went still.
Rebecca whispered.
“You son of a—”
Detective Brooks raised one hand.
Elena could not feel her fingers.
“How long?”
“Since before the wedding.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
The word nearly made her sick.
“What kind of insurance?”
“If Thomas exposed us, Vanessa planned to threaten a public scandal around you.”
“My father would never have cared about embarrassing photographs.”
“He cared about protecting you.”
“So you weaponized me.”
Mark’s expression finally cracked.
“I didn’t want her to use them.”
“But you created them.”
“Yes.”
Elena swallowed.
“What happened when Vanessa met Dad?”
“She showed him what we had.”
“He refused.”
“What did he say?”
Mark looked away.
“He said he would rather watch Carter Biologics collapse than let us control it.”
Elena could hear her father’s voice saying it.
“What happened next?”
“Vanessa put something in his drink.”
Rebecca gasped.
Elena felt the baby move.
Her hand went to her stomach.
“Poison?”
“No.”
Mark answered quickly.
“A medication meant to make him drowsy.”
“Why?”
“She wanted him impaired.”
“So Nathan could be blamed?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“So she could access his laptop while he slept.”
Detective Brooks wrote quickly.
“What happened?”
“Thomas realized something was wrong.”
“He called hotel security.”
“Vanessa panicked.”
“And?”
“He collapsed.”
Elena stared.
“Did you call an ambulance?”
Mark’s silence answered.
“Mark.”
“Vanessa said we had to leave.”
“You left my father dying in a hotel room?”
“He was breathing.”
“You left him.”
“Yes.”
The word destroyed something inside Elena.
Not love.
That was already gone.
It destroyed uncertainty.
Mark had watched her grieve.
Held her at the funeral.
Told her she could not blame herself for their final argument.
All while knowing he had abandoned Thomas Carter during the emergency that killed him.
Rebecca was crying now.
Detective Brooks spoke.
“Did the medication contribute to his death?”
“I don’t know.”
“Keller supplied it?”
Mark hesitated.
“Yes.”
That was why Keller wanted immunity.
The conspiracy had begun before Elena entered the hospital.
“What happened to Nathan Cole?” Brooks asked.
Mark’s face changed again.
“I don’t know.”
“You were seen leaving the funeral with him.”
“He confronted me.”
“Then?”
“He demanded the evidence Thomas collected.”
“Did you give it to him?”
“No.”
“What did he do?”
“He said he had copies.”
“Where?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Then he disappeared.”
“I didn’t make him disappear.”
“Who did?”
Mark looked at Elena.
“Vanessa.”
The room became silent.
“You know that?” Elena asked.
“I suspect it.”
“Based on what?”
“The night after the funeral, she came to my apartment.”
“She had blood on her sleeve.”
Rebecca gripped the chair.
“What did she say?”
“Nothing.”
Mark looked into the camera.
“She burned the shirt in my fireplace.”
Detective Brooks ended the interview immediately.
Police moved to arrest Vanessa on additional charges.
But Vanessa was no longer in the interview room.
A hospital employee had given her access to a staff corridor.
Cameras showed her leaving through a loading dock wearing scrubs.
The employee was found unconscious in a supply closet.
Vanessa had escaped.
Mark was arrested less than twenty minutes later.
His charges included conspiracy, fraud, unlawful surveillance, medical-record manipulation, and obstruction.
More charges were expected.
Elena watched officers place him in handcuffs through a security feed.
For years, Mark had walked through courtrooms as though the law belonged to him.
Now he lowered his head as the elevator doors closed.
Rebecca sat beside Elena.
“It’s over.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Vanessa was still free.
Nathan Cole was still missing.
And Thomas Carter had hired an investigator because he knew more than anyone realized.
Detective Brooks returned holding a sealed envelope.
“This was delivered to the police desk twenty minutes ago.”
“From who?”
“No return name.”
Inside was a single photograph.
Thomas Carter stood beside Nathan Cole.
The photograph had been taken two days before Thomas died.
On the back, Nathan had written:
IF THOMAS IS DEAD, DO NOT TRUST THE COMPANY BOARD.
Underneath was a list of four names.
The first was Vanessa Reed.
The second was Mark Lawson.
The third belonged to Dr. Keller.
The fourth made Rebecca sit down.
It was their uncle.
May you like
Robert Carter.
The current chairman of Carter Biologics.
