The Missing Files
Chapter 06 - The Missing Files
Rebecca had hidden financial records somewhere.
Her letter did not say where.
It only contained one clue.
The truth is where Mom taught me never to lie.
Jonathan read the sentence several times.
Daniel asked, "What does that mean?"
Jonathan knew immediately.
"The lake house."
Rebecca's mother, Evelyn, had taken Rebecca there every summer as a child.
When Rebecca was thirteen, she once lied about breaking a window.
Evelyn made her sit on the dock until she admitted the truth.
After Evelyn died, Rebecca called the property "the place where Mom taught me never to lie."
Jonathan and Daniel drove there that afternoon.
The house had been empty for months.
Inside Rebecca's childhood bedroom, nothing seemed disturbed.
Then Daniel noticed an old wooden jewelry box.
It had belonged to Evelyn.
Inside was a key.
The key opened a compartment beneath the dock.
They found a waterproof case.
Inside were dozens of documents.
Bank statements.
Foundation transfers.
Property purchases.
Shell corporations.
Nearly eighteen million dollars had disappeared from the Carter Foundation over twelve years.
Most of the money had moved through companies controlled indirectly by William Foster.
Jonathan stared at the evidence.
"I signed some of these transfers."
Daniel looked at him.
"You didn't know?"
"I trusted William."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"That's the problem with families like yours."
Jonathan turned.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You think betrayal only comes through the front door."
Jonathan almost argued.
Then he stopped.
Because Daniel was right.
While Jonathan had been suspicious of the working-class son-in-law who married his daughter, the real thief had been sitting beside him in board meetings for decades.
Daniel picked up another document.
"This isn't just embezzlement."
Jonathan read it.
Life insurance.
A policy worth ten million dollars.
Insured person: Rebecca Carter Mercer.
Beneficiary:
The Carter Foundation.
May you like
Authorized trustee:
William Foster.
