CHAPTER 8 — RICHARD’S SECRET
CHAPTER 8 — RICHARD’S SECRET
Clara stared at Richard.
“Tell me that photograph is misleading.”
Richard’s voice was barely audible.
“It isn’t.”
Julian stood.
“Dad?”
Richard looked older than he had one hour earlier.
“George came to me after Sienna’s funeral. He said she had stolen company money and hidden the records in a bank box.”
Audrey’s expression hardened.
“And you believed him?”
“I didn’t know what to believe.”
“You always say that,” Clara snapped. “You never know what to believe until silence becomes convenient.”
Richard flinched.
He admitted that George had asked him to help gain access to Sienna’s box.
Richard refused.
At first.
Then George showed him documents suggesting Julian could be blamed for falsifying engineering approvals.
“He said Julian could spend twenty years in prison.”
Clara stared at him.
“So you protected our son.”
Richard’s eyes filled with shame.
“I thought I was protecting him.”
“What did you do?”
“I contacted the bank and reported the key stolen. I tried to freeze the account.”
Audrey held up the key.
“That’s why Sienna listed me as co-owner. She knew someone might try.”
Elena placed another paper on the table.
“George transferred two hundred thousand dollars into Richard’s company three days later.”
Julian’s face twisted.
“You took money?”
“It wasn’t a payment. It was a business loan.”
“From the man framing me?”
Richard shouted, “I was trying to keep this family alive!”
The silence afterward was brutal.
Clara removed her wedding ring.
Richard looked at it in her palm.
“Clara…”
“For three years, I watched Julian become obsessed with Sienna’s death. I watched him turn bitter. I watched him fall in love with Audrey—or pretend to.”
She placed the ring on the table.
“And all that time, you knew George was hiding something.”
“I didn’t know he killed her.”
“You knew enough to ask questions.”
Richard lowered his head.
Audrey’s anger softened into exhaustion.
“We still need to open the box.”
Elena agreed.
“The bank opens at nine.”
Julian looked at Audrey.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“If my credentials were used—”
“You turned my wedding night into an interrogation room.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Audrey stepped closer.
“You don’t get to stand beside me while I uncover my sister’s murder and pretend we’re on the same side.”
Julian looked as if he had been struck.
But he nodded.
At 8:45 the next morning, Audrey, Clara, Elena and two police detectives entered Richmond Federal Bank.
Box 317 required two keys.
Audrey inserted both.
The metal drawer slid open.
Inside sat a sealed envelope, a ledger and a small digital recorder.
The envelope was addressed to Julian.
He was not there.
Audrey opened it anyway.
May you like
The first line read:
Julian, if you are reading this, George has already convinced you to hate Audrey.
