Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO KNEW MY HUSBAND'S LAST WORDSI barely slept.
At dawn, Arthur moved me to a secure apartment downtown.
The penthouse was sealed.
Police came.
Security came.
Questions came.
But no answers.
Then, at 11:15, a man arrived.
He was older.
Thin.
His left hand trembled.
Arthur recognized him instantly.
“Thomas?”
The man nodded.
He looked at me.
“You're Eleanor.”
“Yes.”
“My name is Thomas Vale.”
“What do you want?”
“To tell you the truth about your husband.”
Arthur stepped between us.
“How did you get here?”
Thomas smiled bitterly.
“Robert taught me how to enter buildings without being seen.”
That answer was enough to make the room silent.
Thomas sat down.
“Robert saved my life twenty years ago.”
“How?”
“I worked for Black Harbor.”
My stomach tightened.
“You knew about the company.”
“I helped build it.”
“What was it?”
Thomas looked at Arthur.
“Tell her everything.”
Arthur hesitated.
Then Thomas spoke.
“Black Harbor was created as a holding company.”
“For what?”
“Assets.”
“What kind of assets?”
“Money. Properties. Intelligence.”
I frowned.
“Intelligence?”
Thomas leaned forward.
“Robert didn't just manage money.”
“What did he do?”
“He protected people.”
“From whom?”
“From the people who controlled the money.”
The answer made no sense.
Then Thomas said something that did.
“Your husband was investigating financial crimes.”
I stared at him.
“For the government?”
“No.”
“For himself.”
He pulled a folded photograph from his coat.
Robert stood beside a young man.
I recognized the young man.
Daniel.
But Daniel was only about nine years old.
Thomas pointed at Robert.
“Your husband discovered that someone inside his own family was connected to a massive fraud network.”
“Who?”
Thomas looked at me.
“We never found out.”
“Then why did Robert suspect Daniel?”
“He didn't.”
I remembered the ledger.
Daniel is not the beneficiary.
He is the key.
“What did you mean when you said Daniel was the key?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Because Daniel inherited something other than money.”
“What?”
“A name.”
I stared at him.
“What name?”
Thomas whispered,
“Elias Whitmore.”
The room went silent.
Arthur's expression changed.
“You're certain?”
Thomas nodded.
“Elias was the original heir of the family trust.”
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared.”
“When?”
“1998.”
The exact year.
I stood.
“Was Robert responsible?”
Thomas looked horrified.
“No.”
“Then who was?”
He didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
“Who?”
Thomas stared at me.
“Your father-in-law.”
I froze.
Robert's father.
Dead for decades.
“You're saying Robert's father made Elias disappear?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Elias discovered where the money came from.”
“What money?”
Thomas looked at Arthur.
Then at me.
“The original fortune.”
I felt a chill.
“The twenty-eight million?”
Thomas nodded.
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“The twenty-eight million is only what survived.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“How much was there?”
Thomas whispered,
“Hundreds of millions.”
I couldn't breathe.
Then Thomas reached into his pocket.
He placed a small key on the table.
It looked exactly like Robert's brass key.
Except this one had the number 62.
“What's that?”
Thomas said,
“Robert told me to give this to you if he died.”
“Where does it go?”
Thomas's eyes filled with fear.
“To a vault.”
Arthur stood abruptly.
“Where?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Under Grand Central.”
Before I could speak, a gunshot exploded outside the building.
The window shattered.
Thomas fell from his chair.
Blood spread across his shirt.
I screamed.
Arthur dragged me to the floor.
The second shot hit the wall.
Then silence.
Thomas opened his eyes.
His voice was barely audible.
“Don't trust Daniel.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
His lips moved.
“Because…”
He stopped breathing.
Arthur checked for a pulse.
Nothing.
Then he looked at me.
“The killer wanted us to hear that.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
May you like
Arthur picked up the key.
“Then let's find out why.”
