Chapter 9 - Olivia Remembered The Rainy Night
Olivia had been eleven when Margaret’s car crashed near Rye, New York.
She always said she remembered rain, broken glass, and waking in a
hospital.
Nothing more.
The original accident photographs changed that.
The rear passenger door was open.
Olivia’s blood was in the back seat.
So was blood from an unidentified adult.
When Olivia saw the pictures, fragments returned.
“Mom was arguing with a man.”
Julian waited.
“He kept saying she couldn’t take the ledger to you.”
Margaret had been trying to reach Julian.
Olivia remembered the man grabbing toward the steering wheel.
Then headlights.
A horn.
Darkness.
The unidentified blood sample still existed.
Modern testing produced a familial match to Grace Holloway.
Not Robert.
A close male relative.
Robert had a brother.
Thomas Vale.
Thomas once worked as Charles Mercer’s private accountant.
He vanished after Margaret’s funeral.
A paper trail said he died in Arizona.
The death certificate was weak.
Federal investigators found him alive in assisted living.
Thomas agreed to a recorded interview.
He admitted he had been in Margaret’s car.
Charles followed them after Margaret threatened to expose the ledger.
During a roadside confrontation, Charles reached for Margaret’s bag.
Margaret accelerated.
Thomas grabbed the wheel trying to avoid Charles’s vehicle.
The car skidded.
Thomas had blamed himself for decades.
Julian asked the question he thought was settled.
“Did my mother die that night?”
Thomas began crying.
“No.”
Julian stopped breathing.
“She survived surgery.”
“Then why did we bury her?”
“Because federal investigators moved her.”
Margaret had agreed to cooperate against Charles and Raymond.
Her death was staged to protect her.
The investigation later collapsed.
Margaret remained hidden.
Julian stood and walked to the window.
His mother had been alive while he mourned her.
Olivia whispered, “Where is she?”
Thomas gave them a name.
May you like
Rebecca Vale.
And an address in Vermont.
