Chapter 5 - The Brother He Trusted
Mark Hale arrived at Richard’s temporary office furious.
“You had police pull my financial records?”
Richard sat behind the desk.
Mara watched through one-way glass in the adjoining room.
Mark threw a folder onto the table.
“Do you have any idea what this does to the company?”
Richard said nothing.
Mark paced.
“We’re seventy-two hours from the Seoul merger vote.”
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“Sit down, Mark.”
Something in Richard’s voice worked.
Mark sat.
Richard slid Sophie’s repaired drawing across the desk.
Mark stared at it.
His face barely changed.
Barely.
Richard noticed anyway.
“What is this?”
“You tell me.”
“A child’s drawing.”
“You recognize the car?”
Mark leaned back.
“No.”
“It was Amelia’s Range Rover.”
“That’s your interpretation.”
“Sophie drew you beside it.”
Mark’s jaw tightened.
“She was five.”
“She remembers your cuff links.”
Mark glanced toward his wrists.
He was not wearing them.
Richard noticed that too.
“You think I killed Amelia?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t need to.”
Richard leaned forward.
“Were you at my house the night she died?”
Mark looked away for half a second.
“Yes.”
Richard felt anger burn through him.
“You told police you hadn’t seen her that day.”
“I panicked.”
“Why?”
“Because we argued.”
“About what?”
“Money.”
“What money?”
Mark stood again.
“Richard—”
“What money?”
Mark lowered his voice.
“The foundation.”
Richard’s chest tightened.
“You knew.”
“I knew Amelia thought funds were being misdirected.”
“Were they?”
Mark hesitated.
“Yes.”
Richard’s vision narrowed.
“How much?”
“About eighteen million.”
Richard stood.
“Eighteen million dollars?”
“I was fixing it.”
“Where did it go?”
“Overseas subsidiaries.”
“Whose?”
“Not mine.”
“Vanessa’s?”
Mark said nothing.
Richard crossed the room.
“Look at me.”
Mark finally did.
“Was Vanessa stealing from us?”
“Yes.”
Richard felt rage rise.
“And you helped her.”
“I contained it.”
“You falsified approvals.”
“To stop it becoming public.”
“Why?”
“Because she had leverage.”
“What leverage?”
Mark’s face tightened.
“On Dad.”
Richard stopped.
Charles Hale.
Their father.
“What did Vanessa have on him?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“She had documents connected to the Hong Kong acquisition in 2014.”
Richard stared.
The acquisition had nearly destroyed Hale Meridian.
Charles had negotiated it before Richard became CEO.
“Illegal?”
“Potentially.”
“And you protected him.”
“I protected the company.”
“You lied about Amelia.”
Mark looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“You were near her car.”
“Yes.”
“Did you touch it?”
“No.”
Richard slammed his fist against the desk.
“Did you kill my wife?”
“No!”
The word erupted from Mark.
Richard watched his brother breathe.
Then Mark said something unexpected.
“I was trying to stop her from driving.”
Richard froze.
“What?”
“Amelia was furious.”
“Why?”
“She found out about the trust paperwork.”
“What paperwork?”
Mark rubbed his face.
“Vanessa had prepared documents to expand her authority over Sophie if anything happened to you.”
Richard stared.
“She wasn’t even my wife.”
“I know.”
“How could she get authority?”
“She couldn’t unless you signed.”
“I never signed.”
“I know.”
Richard understood.
Forgery.
“What did Amelia discover?”
“A draft with your signature.”
Richard felt cold.
“Who forged it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Mark looked exhausted.
“I expect you to hate me.”
Richard said nothing.
Mark continued.
“Amelia confronted Vanessa.”
“And?”
“I told Amelia I would help expose her.”
“Did she believe you?”
“No.”
Richard almost smiled bitterly.
“She was smarter than I was.”
“Yes.”
The admission landed painfully.
“What happened in the garage?”
“Amelia got into the Range Rover.”
“I told her not to drive.”
“Why?”
“Because she’d had wine.”
Richard stiffened.
Amelia rarely drank more than one glass.
“She wasn’t drunk.”
“No.”
Mark looked down.
“But she seemed disoriented.”
Richard’s pulse changed.
“Disoriented how?”
“Slow.”
“Confused?”
“A little.”
“Did you call a doctor?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She left.”
Richard’s voice became deadly quiet.
“You watched my wife drive away impaired and did nothing?”
Mark stood.
“I followed her.”
“What?”
“For about two miles.”
“Then?”
“I lost her.”
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
“Vanessa told me it would look like I caused the crash.”
Richard stared.
“And you believed her?”
“I had eighteen million dollars in falsified transfers under my login.”
Mark’s eyes were wet.
“I was a coward.”
Richard felt no sympathy.
Only exhaustion.
“What was Amelia drugged with?”
Mark looked confused.
“What?”
Richard studied him.
That reaction appeared real.
He pressed the intercom.
Mara entered.
Mark stood.
“What is this?”
Mara placed a paper on the desk.
“We had Amelia Hale’s preserved blood sample retested.”
Mark’s face changed.
Richard looked at Mara.
She continued.
“Mrs. Hale had a sedative in her system.”
“How much?”
“Enough to impair reaction time.”
Richard felt hollow.
“Was it prescribed?”
“No.”
Mara looked at Mark.
“Do you know how it got there?”
“No.”
Richard stared at his brother.
Mark whispered,
“Vanessa brought wine.”
The room became silent.
Richard asked,
“To the house?”
“Yes.”
“Did Amelia drink it?”
Mark’s face drained.
“One glass.”
Richard looked at Mara.
Mara’s expression said the same thing Richard was thinking.
Vanessa had not simply been stealing.
Someone had prepared Amelia to get behind the wheel impaired.
And someone had been near the car.
Then Mark said,
“There’s something else.”
Richard turned.
“What?”
“After the crash, Vanessa called me.”
“When?”
“Before police called you.”
Richard went very still.
“How did she know?”
Mark swallowed.
“I asked her that.”
“What did she say?”
“She said Thomas told her.”
Thomas Bell.
May you like
Richard’s attorney.
The third name that kept appearing whenever the truth disappeared.
