Chapter 7 - Margaret Had Known About Fraud
Margaret requested another interview.
This time, her attorney sat beside her.
She admitted knowing about Daniel’s allegations against Carter Freight.
Not the details.
Enough.
Thomas told her in 2007 that Daniel was trying to destroy the company.
Margaret believed her husband.
Years later, she found an old bank statement showing unexplained
deposits.
She confronted Thomas.
He admitted Robert had been running fraudulent invoices.
Thomas claimed he discovered it late and accepted money only because
Robert threatened to expose Jack’s paternity publicly.
Jack stared.
“That makes no sense.”
Margaret nodded.
“I know that now.”
Thomas had framed his own participation as sacrifice.
He said he took dirty money to protect the family.
Margaret chose to believe him.
After Thomas died, Robert began pressuring her to locate anything Daniel
might still possess.
When Daniel died, Robert became desperate.
He told Margaret the records could destroy Thomas’s reputation and
expose the Carter family to lawsuits.
“So you thought Emily had the key.”
“Yes.”
“And you decided humiliating her would make her give it up?”
Margaret cried.
“I thought she was hiding it.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
Margaret looked down.
“Yes.”
Ryan sat in the back of the room.
He had volunteered to provide the full original video.
He looked sick.
Jack turned to him.
“You laughed.”
Ryan nodded.
“I did.”
“You held the phone.”
“Yes.”
“You could have stopped.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
That mattered.
Then investigators recovered metadata from Ryan’s recording.
At the beginning, before Margaret’s statement about the key, Robert
could be heard saying:
“If she still refuses, mention the money Daniel left her.”
Emily stared.
“What money?”
Nobody had told her Daniel left her anything.
The estate attorney checked.
Daniel’s will contained a recent amendment.
Emily Reed Carter was named beneficiary of $250,000.
May you like
Jack’s wife had inherited money from his biological father.
And neither of them knew why.
