Chapter 3 - The Red Folder
Emily finally let Michael into her hospital room the next morning.
Not because she had forgiven him.
Because she needed him to hear the truth.
He stopped three feet from the bed.
“I’m sorry.”
Emily looked at him. “That sentence is not big enough.”
“I know.”
“You hit me while I was bleeding because your sister cried first.”
Michael’s eyes dropped.
Mason sat by the window with headphones on, though both adults knew he wasn’t listening to music.
Emily took a breath. “The red folder started with your father’s foundation.”
Michael looked up.
“Six months ago, the charity asked me to help with a donor report. I found transfers that didn’t make sense. Small at first. Then bigger. Almost nine hundred thousand dollars over eighteen months.”
“To who?”
“A consulting company called Northstar Civic Partners.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“That’s because it barely exists.”
Emily handed him her phone. On the screen was a photograph of a corporate filing.
The registered agent was Victor Hale.
Michael’s family attorney.
His father’s closest friend.
Michael whispered, “No.”
“I kept digging. Northstar sent money to another company owned by Sophia.”
Michael sat down hard.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to. Then I found something worse.”
Emily scrolled to a picture of a handwritten note.
Thomas Carter—Michael’s father—had written it three weeks before his death.
V. and S. moving foundation money. Meeting auditor Friday. If something happens, check trust amendment.
Michael read it twice.
“Where did you find this?”
“Inside an old tax binder in your father’s desk.”
“And the red folder?”
“Copies. Bank records. The note. A draft amendment to the family trust.”
“What amendment?”
Emily hesitated.
“Your father planned to remove Sophia as a trustee.”
Michael went still.
“He never did.”
“The draft was signed.”
“Then why wasn’t it filed?”
“That’s what I wanted to know.”
The door opened.
Detective Reese stepped inside.
Her expression was tight.
“We have a problem.”
Michael stood. “Sophia?”
“Gone.”
“Gone where?”
“Her condo is empty. Her car is at the airport. No flight under her name.”
Emily’s hand moved to her belly.
Reese continued, “And your home security system was accessed remotely at 3:12 this morning.”
Michael’s face changed.
“The footage?”
“Deleted.”
Mason slowly took off his headphones.
“All of it?”
Reese nodded.
Mason looked at his father.
“Not all of it.”
Everyone turned.
May you like
The boy held up his tablet.
“I saved Aunt Sophia.”
