Chapter 3 - Daniel Knows About the Missing Money
The first thing Daniel said was, “Do not trust the audit packet.”
Eleanor stared at her brother inside the hotel’s private library.
Outside, the opening reception continued without Richard.
Guests drank champagne beneath chandeliers while reporters whispered into phones.
Inside the library, Eleanor felt as if the floor had shifted again.
“You received seventy-five thousand dollars.”
Daniel closed the door.
“Yes.”
“From the construction account.”
“No.”
She held up the page.
“It says you did.”
“It says a company with my name attached received it.”
“That is not better.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
He was thirty-eight, six years younger than Eleanor, and usually incapable of hiding guilt.
Tonight he looked frightened instead.
“The company is D. Vale Design.”
“Your company.”
“It was.”
Eleanor frowned.
Daniel had closed his architecture consultancy two years earlier after joining the family investment office.
He nodded.
“Someone reactivated the LLC.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. I expect you to verify it.”
That answer slowed her anger.
Daniel placed his phone on the table.
“Call the bank yourself.”
Eleanor did.
The bank confirmed D. Vale Design had reopened an account six weeks earlier using digital documentation.
Daniel was listed as beneficial owner.
But the mailing address was wrong.
An apartment in Milwaukee.
Daniel had never lived there.
Eleanor ended the call.
“Identity theft?”
“Or someone wanted a payment to look like it reached me.”
“Why?”
“To make you doubt the board vote.”
Eleanor stared at him.
That was exactly what had happened.
Daniel continued.
“Richard knew you trusted me more than anyone on the board.”
“Did he know about the vote?”
“Not from me.”
“Then who?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Probably Martin.”
Martin Hale was the hotel’s chief financial officer.
He had worked beside Eleanor for twelve years.
He had been the one who first warned Daniel about irregular invoices.
Eleanor frowned.
“Martin brought us the evidence.”
“Some of it.”
“What does that mean?”
Daniel opened a spreadsheet on his tablet.
The payments to VCR Advisory were real.
But they were not the largest unexplained withdrawals.
Over seven months, nearly $8.6 million had moved through subcontractor change orders.
Many looked legitimate.
Plumbing.
Stonework.
Fire systems.
Kitchen equipment.
But several vendors shared mailing addresses.
Others had been created weeks before receiving payments.
“Why wasn’t this in the packet?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Because Martin told the board he was still tracing it.”
Eleanor felt cold.
“Eight million?”
“Possibly more.”
“And Richard signed?”
“Most approvals carry his digital authorization.”
“Most?”
Daniel enlarged one line.
Three transfers carried Eleanor’s authorization.
She stared.
“I never approved these.”
“I know.”
Her signature certificate had been used.
Someone had access to her credentials.
Richard did.
Martin did.
Her executive assistant did.
And, until six months earlier, Daniel did.
The circle was widening.
A knock came.
Eleanor opened the door.
Vanessa stood outside.
Her lipstick was gone.
So was the confidence.
“I need to talk to you.”
Daniel moved beside Eleanor.
Vanessa glanced at him.
“Alone.”
“No.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Richard lied to me too.”
Eleanor almost laughed.
“I’m not interested in comparing notes about his promises.”
“This isn’t about us.”
“Then say it.”
Vanessa looked toward the hallway.
“VCR Advisory is mine.”
Eleanor’s jaw tightened.
“But I didn’t receive $2.3 million.”
Daniel asked, “How much did you receive?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
Eleanor stared.
Vanessa admitted Richard had hired her as a branding consultant eight months earlier.
Their affair began later.
He told her Eleanor knew the marriage was ending.
Vanessa believed him.
Or wanted to.
But the invoices were supposed to total $200,000.
Not millions.
“Show me.”
Vanessa opened her phone.
Contract.
Invoices.
Bank statements.
$200,000.
The documents looked real.
Eleanor hated that Vanessa might be telling the truth.
“Where did the rest go?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel asked, “Who created your company?”
“My accountant.”
“Name?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Martin Hale.”
Eleanor’s pulse changed.
Martin again.
Vanessa continued.
“He told me Richard wanted the consulting work separated from my personal name because of press attention.”
Eleanor looked at Daniel.
The CFO had created Vanessa’s company.
Then project accounts showed millions flowing into it.
Yet Vanessa’s bank showed only a fraction arriving.
Someone had used her company as a label.
A destination on paper.
Not necessarily the final destination.
Eleanor asked where Richard was.
Security had escorted him to an upstairs office to collect personal belongings under supervision.
Daniel checked his phone.
Then frowned.
“What?”
“Richard’s gone.”
Eleanor stared.
“Gone how?”
“He left through the service garage.”
“With security?”
“No.”
A second message arrived.
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“The financial server just went offline.”
Eleanor ran.
By the time she reached the accounting suite, Martin Hale’s office was empty.
His laptop was gone.
So was the external backup drive kept in the locked cabinet.
On his desk sat one envelope.
Eleanor’s name was written across it.
Inside was a hotel keycard and a note.
ROOM 814.
ASK RICHARD WHAT HAPPENED THERE SIX MONTHS AGO.
Eleanor looked toward the elevator.
Room 814 had never been rented.
It had been sealed during construction after a worker fell from the eighth floor.
May you like
At least, that was what Eleanor had been told.
Now the room was waiting for her.
