Chapter 7 - THE MAN AT THE TABLE
Arthur drove to headquarters before sunrise.
Richard Voss’s office was empty.
Computer gone.
Desk drawers cleared.
Family photographs removed.
Only one coffee cup remained.
Maya stood in the doorway.
“He knew.”
Arthur nodded.
“He knew Lucas had been found before we identified him.”
David opened the CFO’s secure files.
Most were wiped.
One folder remained.
CLAIRE.
Arthur went still.
Inside were scanned emails from his late wife.
Claire had been investigating foundation transfers before her death.
Richard had intercepted some of them.
One email had been addressed directly to Arthur.
He had never received it.
Arthur read it aloud.
“Peter may be helping them. I’m not sure yet. David is careless, but I don’t think he’s corrupt. Richard is the one I’m afraid of.”
David looked down.
“Careless.”
Maya glanced at him.
“She wasn’t wrong.”
David almost smiled.
Then Arthur opened the final attachment.
A spreadsheet.
Millions moved from the Montgomery Foundation into consulting firms.
Those firms routed the money to accounts controlled by Richard.
Isabella received a percentage.
Peter had authorized two transfers.
Denise had processed them.
David had signed one compliance certificate without noticing the vendor identities.
Nobody was clean.
But there was a difference between being careless, greedy, and cruel.
Arthur was finally beginning to see it.
Serena entered.
“We found Peter.”
Arthur turned.
“Where?”
“St. Matthew’s Church parking lot.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Peter was brought in forty minutes later.
He looked twenty years older.
Arthur didn’t shake his hand.
Peter sat.
“I deserve that.”
“You deserve worse.”
Peter nodded.
“Yes.”
Arthur leaned over the table.
“Did you know Isabella locked Lucas inside the house?”
“Not at first.”
“When did you know?”
“The first night.”
“And you didn’t call me.”
Peter’s eyes filled.
“Richard had everything on me.”
Arthur laughed bitterly.
“What? An affair?”
“No.”
Peter looked at the floor.
“I stole from you.”
Arthur became still.
“How much?”
“Two million.”
David closed his eyes.
Peter continued.
“My wife’s medical bills started it. Then gambling. Then more lies to cover the first lies.”
Arthur stared at the man he had known since college.
“Richard found out.”
“He told me if I helped approve foundation transfers, he’d keep quiet.”
“So you did.”
“Yes.”
“And when Isabella took Lucas?”
“I panicked.”
“You brought my son food instead of opening the door.”
Peter started crying.
“I know.”
“You could have opened the door.”
“I know.”
“You could have called me.”
“I know.”
Arthur slammed his palm against the table.
“Stop saying you know!”
Peter flinched.
Arthur’s voice broke.
“He’s eight.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was he!”
Silence.
Maya stood outside the room with Lucas.
She turned his headphones up so he wouldn’t hear.
Inside, Peter wiped his face.
“I put the recorder in his sock.”
Arthur laughed in disbelief.
“You want credit?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I want to testify.”
Arthur’s anger cooled slightly.
“Against Richard?”
“Against all of us.”
That surprised him.
Peter looked through the glass toward Lucas.
“I can’t undo what I did.”
“No.”
“But I can stop lying.”
Arthur sat down.
For the first time, Peter gave them the full story.
Richard wanted control of the family foundation because Arthur planned an independent audit.
Isabella agreed to help.
Peter helped move money.
Then Lucas accidentally overheard Isabella and Richard arguing in the wine room.
Lucas heard Richard mention Claire.
That was why they panicked.
Not because Lucas knew where the blue box was.
Because he had heard Richard admit something about his mother.
Arthur leaned forward.
“What did he say?”
Peter looked at him.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Peter.”
“I only heard Isabella yelling afterward.”
“What did she say?”
Peter swallowed.
“She said, ‘You promised me Claire’s accident would be the last time anybody got hurt.’”
Arthur stopped breathing.
Maya’s hand flew to her mouth.
Arthur’s voice was barely audible.
“Claire didn’t die from cancer.”
Peter looked confused.
Arthur stared at him.
“She was sick, but she was getting better.”
He stood.
“She died in a car crash on the way home from treatment.”
Everyone in the room went quiet.
Arthur looked at Serena.
“Reopen my wife’s accident.”
Because suddenly Lucas’s kidnapping wasn’t the beginning.
May you like
It was the second time someone had tried to erase Arthur Montgomery’s family.
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