Cynthia left. Minutes later, three familiar knocks sounded on my door — the rhythm Daniel had used since we were children.
“Claire, I know Cynthia gave you the key.”
“How do you know about North Lake?” I called through the door.
Silence. Then his voice came lower. “Because I created it.”
I closed my eyes. “Why?”
“To protect the money.”
“From whom?”
“Ivan.”
“Then why were transfers authorized with my signature?”
“Because your name was the only one he wouldn’t question at first. I copied an authorization profile. It was supposed to be temporary.”
“How much money?”
“Six million, four hundred thousand.”
The records Mara and I had traced showed unexplained transfers totaling just under three million. “Where did the rest come from?”
“I found older accounts.”
“Whose?”
A pause. “Your father’s.”
“My father has been dead for three years.”
“The accounts were active after his death. Ivan didn’t start this. He inherited it.” Daniel’s voice became almost gentle. “From Dad.”
My father — the man who had funded Vanguard’s first building, who had reviewed contracts late into the night, who had believed in me. “You’re lying.”
“I wish I were. The records are in Box 314. I put them there last month.”
“How could you access Richard’s box?”
“I had another key.”
“From whom?”
The doorknob shifted slightly. “Claire, there are people watching the building. A private investigator.”
“Working for Ivan?”
“I don’t know.”
For the first time, fear entered his voice — not dramatic, not persuasive. Real. “The board meeting isn’t about removing you. That’s a distraction. Vanguard is supposed to close a major refinancing agreement Monday afternoon. Once it closes, the old debt will be consolidated and the missing funds will become almost impossible to trace.”
“Mara can stop the vote.”
“Not with the documents she has.”
“The trust gives me control.”
“The trust is not what you think it is. Dad amended it six weeks before he died, but he didn’t file the amendment. It was delivered to the acting trustee.”
“Who is the acting trustee?”
“Cynthia.”
The apartment seemed to tilt. Cynthia — who had sat at my table, offered to testify for me, warned me not to trust Daniel — possessed an amendment that could alter my control of Vanguard.
“Why would Dad appoint her?”
“I don’t know.”
“What does the amendment say?”
A car door closed in the street below. Daniel turned away from the door. “We’re out of time.”
“Tell me.”
“The amendment created a second beneficiary.”
My mouth went dry. “Who?”
Footsteps on the stairwell. Slow. Measured. Daniel’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“The second beneficiary is a daughter Ivan never told you he had.”
PART 4
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