Chapter 8 - The Man on the Music Room Floor
Daniel was unconscious but breathing.
Ethan launched himself into Clara’s arms.
“Cwa-wa!”
She held him carefully and felt his whole body shaking.
Victor knelt beside his son. “Who brought you here?”
Ethan buried his face against Clara’s shoulder.
“Lady.”
Victor’s eyes hardened. “Serena?”
Ethan shook his head.
“Other lady.”
Clara and Victor exchanged a look.
There was another woman.
Paramedics took Daniel to the hospital under police guard. He woke briefly in the ambulance and said only one sentence before losing consciousness again.
“Check Naomi’s accident.”
Victor went pale.
Naomi Blackwood had been his wife.
Ethan’s mother.
She had died two years earlier when her car went through a guardrail during heavy rain.
The investigation ruled it an accident.
Victor had never questioned it.
Until now.
Marcus pulled the archived case file. A detail jumped out immediately: the brake lines had been damaged, but the report called the damage consistent with impact.
“Could they have been cut first?” Clara asked.
Marcus looked grim. “Maybe.”
Victor sat at the end of the library table, stunned.
“Naomi thought someone was stealing from the family foundation before she died.”
Clara turned. “Who?”
“She never proved it.”
Marcus opened another file.
“Foundation transfers. Same time period.”
Hundreds of small payments had gone to consulting companies. None looked large enough to attract attention. Together they totaled 3.8 million dollars.
Every payment had been approved by Daniel Kline.
Victor’s face hardened.
Then Marcus clicked one company name.
Vale Strategic Partners.
Serena’s father owned it.
Clara whispered, “So Serena’s family was getting the money.”
Victor nodded slowly.
His phone rang.
It was Daniel, calling from the hospital.
Victor answered.
Daniel’s voice was weak.
“I didn’t steal from you.”
“Then who did?”
May you like
Daniel took a painful breath.
“Your sister.”
