Chapter 8 - THE AUDITOR WHO VANISHED
-8
Rosamund placed the photograph on the dining table.
Chadworth studied it.
Daniel Harker looked nothing like her at first glance.
Dark hair where hers was light.
Broad shoulders.
Confident smile.
But the eyes were the same.
“Why different surnames?” Edmund asked.
“My mother remarried when I was six. Daniel kept our father’s name. I took my stepfather’s.”
Chadworth looked at her.
“You entered my house because your brother disappeared while investigating my company.”
“Yes.”
“And Evelyn knew?”
“Yes.”
“From the beginning?”
“Yes.”
The betrayal hurt differently.
Rosamund had protected his daughters.
Possibly saved them.
But she had also lied from the first day she entered the mansion.
“You used us.”
Her eyes filled.
“At first.”
Lorelai appeared at the doorway.
“Rosie didn’t use us.”
Chadworth looked at his daughter.
Rosamund shook her head.
“Lorelai, go sit with Gemma.”
“No.”
“Please.”
Lorelai crossed her arms.
“No.”
For the first time that day, Chadworth almost recognized the stubborn child she had once been.
He let her stay.
Rosamund continued.
“Daniel worked for Prescott Foundation auditing charitable distributions.”
“I remember.”
“He found transfers he couldn’t explain.”
“Then resigned.”
“He never resigned.”
Chadworth frowned.
“My office received a resignation letter.”
“It was forged.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Daniel called me the night before he disappeared.”
Rosamund’s voice trembled.
“He was terrified.”
“What did he say?”
“That he had discovered a system for stealing control of wealthy families without stealing their money.”
Edmund leaned forward.
“Guardianships.”
“Yes.”
“Voss.”
“Daniel never gave me the name.”
Rosamund looked at the photograph.
“He said the records were buried inside medical reimbursements and trust-management fees. He said someone at Prescott Holdings was helping hide them.”
“Who?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Why?”
“He said knowing would put me in danger.”
“What happened next?”
“He arranged to meet me the following afternoon.”
Rosamund swallowed.
“He never came.”
“Police?”
“I reported him missing.”
“I was told he resigned and moved abroad.”
“That was the story everyone received.”
Chadworth felt shame creeping through him again.
How many disappearances had been converted into administrative explanations while he signed documents from the top floor of a skyscraper?
“Then you approached Evelyn?”
“No.”
Rosamund’s eyes moved toward Lorelai.
“Evelyn approached me.”
“How?”
“She came to my mother’s funeral. She knew Daniel had vanished. She asked questions.”
“And eventually hired you.”
“Yes.”
“Why as a housekeeper?”
“Because no one watches the housekeeper.”
The phrase landed heavily.
Chadworth thought of Sabina’s cruelty.
You act like you’re invisible.
Invisible had been Rosamund’s protection.
And her weapon.
“What did you find?”
“Not enough.”
“Until now.”
Rosamund shook her head.
“No. I found something three years ago.”
“What?”
“A locked cabinet inside Dr. Voss’s clinic.”
Chadworth stared.
“You broke into his clinic?”
“Yes.”
Marcus almost smiled.
Rosamund ignored him.
“Inside were copies of family medical records, financial documents and photographs.”
“Mine?”
“Not then.”
“Whose?”
“Eight families.”
Edmund leaned forward.
“Names?”
Rosamund listed them.
Chadworth recognized every one.
Old money.
Industry.
Real estate.
Technology.
Three had experienced sudden succession crises in the previous decade.
One billionaire had been declared incompetent by his children.
Another had died during a private rehabilitation stay.
A third had signed away controlling voting rights shortly before a dementia diagnosis.
“All Voss patients?” Marcus asked.
“Yes.”
“Then why is he not in prison?”
“Because the cabinet disappeared two days later.”
Rosamund looked at Chadworth.
“And the security guard who let me into the building died in a boating accident.”
No one spoke.
A pattern again.
Always accidents.
Always plausible.
Always enough distance to prevent anyone from connecting them.
Chadworth’s phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Prescott.”
Silence.
Then Sabina’s real voice.
No distortion.
“Don’t speak.”
Chadworth looked at Marcus.
The security chief immediately began tracing.
Sabina whispered.
“The person holding me stepped out.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Describe it.”
“Concrete walls. No windows. I can hear machinery.”
“Anything else?”
“Water.”
Marcus typed rapidly.
Sabina continued.
“Listen to me. Claire Voss knows you found the files.”
“How?”
“Because your house is still compromised.”
Marcus looked up sharply.
Sabina said, “Not just microphones.”
“What else?”
“Your security team.”
Chadworth looked around.
Several guards were visible through the foyer.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Marcus?”
“I don’t know if he’s involved.”
Marcus shook his head.
Chadworth lifted a hand.
Sabina continued.
“Claire runs the network now. Her father is sick.”
“Voss?”
“Cancer. Months, maybe weeks.”
That gave Claire motive to accelerate everything.
“What does she want?”
“The same thing she always wanted.”
“Money?”
“No.”
Sabina gave a nervous laugh.
“People like you always think money is the point.”
“Then tell me.”
“Control.”
A metal sound echoed behind her.
She lowered her voice.
“Her father built the system because wealthy families paid him to remove inconvenient relatives from power. Claire realized the system could do more than serve families.”
“She could own them.”
“Yes.”
“Through guardianships.”
“Boards. trusts. medical proxies. legal conservators. She controls the people who control the assets.”
Chadworth understood.
It was more sophisticated than theft.
The money remained where it belonged.
Legally.
On paper.
But decisions belonged to someone else.
“Why Prescott?”
“You’re the largest target they ever attempted.”
“And you?”
“I was supposed to become the legal bridge.”
“Marriage.”
“Yes.”
“Then why tell me this now?”
Sabina was silent.
“Because they’re going to kill you?”
“No.”
Her answer came immediately.
“They’re going to make you kill yourself.”
The room went still.
Chadworth felt his heartbeat slow.
“What?”
“The drugs in your supplements cause confusion, insomnia and eventually severe depression in higher doses.”
Marcus looked toward Edmund.
Sabina continued.
“They’ve been increasing the amount for weeks.”
Chadworth thought of his sleepless nights.
His headaches.
His sudden anger.
The morning three days earlier when he had stood in his office staring out over the city and felt a strange, inexplicable emptiness.
He had never considered suicide.
But what if the chemical progression had only begun?
“They’ll create the records,” Sabina whispered. “Then when you die, everyone will believe the signs were there.”
“Like Evelyn.”
Sabina went silent.
Chadworth understood.
“Was Evelyn drugged too?”
“Yes.”
Rosamund covered her mouth.
“How?”
“Tea. For several months.”
Chadworth felt the world tilt.
Evelyn had become anxious before her death.
Forgetful.
Paranoid.
He had encouraged her to see Dr. Voss.
The memory was unbearable.
He had personally delivered her into the hands of the man poisoning her.
Sabina whispered, “She figured it out.”
“Then Voss killed her.”
“I think Claire ordered it.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn found Daniel.”
Rosamund stepped forward.
Chadworth looked at her.
“Daniel is alive?”
Sabina heard him.
“Yes.”
Rosamund made a broken sound.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Sabina’s breathing quickened.
“I only saw him once.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“Where?”
“At Voss’s private clinic.”
Rosamund began crying.
“Why would they keep him alive?”
Sabina answered.
“Because Daniel built something they couldn’t replace.”
“What?”
“The accounting system that tracks every family they control.”
Marcus stopped typing.
Sabina whispered the final words.
“He knows where all the bodies are buried.”
Footsteps sounded in the background.
Sabina gasped.
“Chadworth.”
“What?”
“If you want to find Daniel, don’t look for a hospital.”
The door behind her opened.
Her voice became desperate.
May you like
“Look beneath one.”
The call ended.
