Chapter 5 - The Red Ledger Is Missing
Ryan had walked past the antique chest thousands of times.
He believed it held old photographs.
Vanessa claimed she had opened it after discovering Evelyn’s recording.
Inside, beneath a false bottom, she found the red ledger.
Thomas’s handwritten accounts showed unauthorized transfers from Bennett
Marine’s employee pension fund.
Millions moved through a company called Harbor Ridge Holdings.
Vanessa panicked.
She did not go to Ryan.
She took photographs of several pages.
Then she returned the ledger to the chest while deciding what to do.
That morning, she came back to retrieve it.
The false compartment was empty.
Then Noah appeared.
He had followed the blinking light from the hidden surveillance
compartment.
Vanessa feared whoever took the ledger might still be monitoring the
cameras.
She tried to pull Noah away.
He resisted.
She pushed him.
Her explanation did not excuse it.
Vanessa said so herself.
“I hurt him because I was afraid.”
Claire answered:
“You hurt him because you chose your fear over his safety.”
Vanessa lowered her head.
“Yes.”
Police examined the antique chest.
A partial fingerprint was recovered from the false bottom.
It did not belong to Ryan.
Claire.
Vanessa.
Or any household employee currently on file.
Ryan asked whether Martin Cole could still be involved.
Vanessa looked at him.
“Martin died seven years ago.”
Another dead end.
Then investigators reviewed the ninety-day surveillance archive.
At 2:13 that morning, a figure entered the upstairs hall.
The person wore a hood.
They opened the antique chest.
Removed something.
Then looked directly into the hidden camera.
The face became visible.
Ryan stopped the video.
He knew the man.
So did Claire.
It was Ryan’s older brother, Michael.
May you like
The brother who had supposedly been living in London for the past two
years.
