CHAPTER 6 THE MAN WHO KNEW EVERYTHING
Every step felt heavier than the last.
My financial adviser, Charles Whitmore, was standing in the foyer.
He was seventy years old.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
Calm expression.
The same man who had attended my wife's funeral.
The same man who had helped me rebuild my finances after her death.
The same man who had once told me,
"You don't have to carry everything alone."
Now two detectives stood between us.
Charles looked at me.
"Baldric."
I didn't answer.
His eyes moved toward the wooden box in my hand.
Then to the USB drive.
"You found it."
Three words.
That's all he said.
But they were enough.
I looked at the detective.
"Arrest him."
Charles didn't move.
Instead, he smiled.
"You should hear me out."
I stepped closer.
"You have thirty seconds."
He sighed.
"Your wife discovered the trust."
"I know."
"She discovered the Vances were trying to access it."
"I know."
"She also discovered that someone inside your organization was helping them."
I stared at him.
"Was it you?"
Charles didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
I turned toward the detectives.
He suddenly said,
"It wasn't me."
I stopped.
Charles looked at me.
"It was someone much closer to you."
My stomach tightened.
"Who?"
Charles reached inside his jacket.
The detectives immediately drew their weapons.
Charles slowly removed an envelope.
Nothing else.
He placed it on the table.
"Your wife gave me this two days before she died."
I stared at it.
"Why didn't you give it to me?"
"Because she told me not to."
"Why?"
"She said if I gave it to you, the person helping the Vances would know she had left evidence."
I looked at the envelope.
"Then why bring it now?"
Charles looked toward the staircase.
"Because they already know."
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Everyone turned.
The detective moved first.
"Stay here."
He ran upstairs.
A second later, we heard a door slam.
Then footsteps.
Fast.
Someone was running.
The detective shouted,
"Stop!"
I moved toward the staircase.
Another officer ran past me.
Then came a crash.
Glass breaking.
Silence.
The officers returned thirty seconds later.
"He's gone."
I stared at them.
"Who?"
The detective's expression was grim.
"The man who was inside Gideon's room."
My heart stopped.
"What did he take?"
The detective looked at the wooden box.
"The USB drive."
I slowly turned toward Charles.
He was staring at me.
"You need to understand something," he said.
"The Vances were never the end of this."
I clenched my fists.
"Then who is?"
Charles looked directly into my eyes.
"The person who ordered your wife's death."
Silence.
I stepped toward him.
"Name him."
Charles hesitated.
May you like
Then he whispered:
"You've known him your entire life."
