Chapter 8: The Name on the Account
Elaine gripped the back of a chair.
“I don’t have another account.”
Grace showed her the bank record.
“It was opened using your business tax number.”
Patricia had transferred eighty thousand dollars into it three days earlier.
The description read: PAYMENT FOR SERVICES.
Elaine shook her head.
“She was going to make it look as if I took all that money.”
“Did she have access to your tax records?” Grace asked.
“She photographed them while she was in my office.
She said she needed an invoice.”
Daniel pointed to the opening date.
“This account was created after Elaine agreed to help us.”
Grace nodded.
“Patricia expected the investigation.
She prepared someone else to blame.”
Elaine covered her face.
“My husband told me to do the right thing, and now we could lose everything.”
I pulled her hands down.
“You gave us the recording.
We will not let her bury you under her lie.”
Conrad called the bank’s security department from the boardroom.
He put the call on speaker and read the account number aloud.
A representative answered after several minutes.
“The account was opened remotely.
The identification video is available under legal request.”
Grace sent the request from her laptop.
“Stay with me, Elaine.
We are going to see who appeared on that recording.”
The file arrived twenty minutes later.
Patricia’s face filled the monitor as she held Elaine’s copied documents beside her own cheek.
Elaine let out a broken laugh.
“She framed me and recorded herself doing it.”
Grace saved three copies.
“Arrogant people often believe a camera is only dangerous when it belongs to someone else.”
Emily moved beside Elaine.
“I wanted to hate you.”
“You had every right.”
“But you came back and told the truth when Patricia had enough power to frighten everyone else.”
Elaine began to cry.
“I am so sorry about your wedding.”
Emily embraced her.
“You helped give me my life back.”
Daniel looked toward the closed elevator doors.
“What happens now?”
Grace gathered the documents.
“Now every transfer is traced, every false account is closed, and everyone involved gives a formal statement.”
Conrad picked up the box containing Daniel’s keys.
“And the board needs to correct its mistake.”
He placed the keys back into Daniel’s hand.
“Your suspension is withdrawn.
Patricia is removed as trustee and company president, effective now.”
Daniel did not close his fingers around them.
“I’ll return under one condition.”
“What condition?”
“An outside auditor examines everything, including decisions made under my grandfather.”
Conrad offered his hand.
“Agreed.”
Daniel shook it, then handed the company phone to Grace.
“Start with this.
My mother used it more than I did.”
Emily looked at him.
“You just got your position back.”
“I want the truth more than the position.”
I watched my daughter lean against him.
This time, neither of them let go.
Grace closed her evidence case.
“There is one more question.
Who becomes temporary trustee?”
Conrad looked across the table at me.
“Richard named a successor in the original trust document.”
“Who?”
He turned the final page toward us.
My name was printed beneath Patricia’s.
May you like
Patricia had spent years trying to keep me away from the truth.
Now I was the one person legally authorized to remove everything she had left behind.
