Chapter 8 - THE ORDER THAT NEARLY KILLED HER
“You ordered them to remove me?”
Rowena looked at her daughter-in-law.
Clara stood in the doorway, gripping her silver evening bag.
Her eyes moved from the photograph to Callum.
Then to Rowena.
“Yes.”
Thea felt Marian stiffen beside her.
Callum's face was hard.
“Why?”
Clara entered slowly.
“Because Rowena was going to ruin the wedding.”
A stunned silence followed.
Rowena spoke first.
“By attending?”
Clara shook her head.
“No. By announcing what Edmund had done.”
Callum stared.
“You knew she was investigating him?”
“Of course I knew.”
Clara's voice trembled.
“Your grandmother called me yesterday. She said she'd found discrepancies in the employee trust.”
Rowena frowned.
“I asked whether you knew anything about the missing distributions.”
“And I told you I would look into it.”
“You told me not to involve Callum.”
Clara looked toward her son.
“I wanted one peaceful evening.”
Callum gave a bitter laugh.
“Peaceful?”
“You've worked so hard. You finally found someone you wanted to marry. Your father died before he could watch you grow up. I wanted this day to be beautiful.”
“So you told Merrick to remove Grandma?”
“I told him to escort her to a private sitting room.”
“Why didn't you tell me she was here?”
Clara swallowed.
“Because I knew you'd go to her instead of your reception.”
Rowena looked deeply hurt.
“Clara.”
“I know.”
Clara pressed a hand to her eyes.
“I know how selfish that sounds.”
Thea glanced at the photograph again.
REMOVE HER TONIGHT.
It was cruel.
But it wasn't necessarily an instruction to harm anyone.
Callum seemed to reach the same conclusion.
“Did you tell Merrick to tamper with the wheelchair?”
Clara looked horrified.
“No.”
“Did you know the brake was dangerous?”
“I knew Eddie had reported a problem. Merrick assured me he'd use a replacement chair.”
Rowena's voice tightened.
“You knew there was a problem and allowed me to sit in it?”
Clara closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
The admission seemed to cost her something.
“But I never wanted you hurt.”
Callum shook his head.
“Wanting isn't enough, Mother.”
Before Clara could answer, the security supervisor approached.
“Mr. Varden, there's something else you should see.”
He opened a second file.
A service-corridor camera had captured Merrick at 6:42 P.M.
He was standing beside the equipment closet.
He opened a small toolbox.
Removed a pair of pliers.
Then bent over the wheelchair.
The footage was clear enough to show him pulling something from beneath the right wheel.
Thea's breath caught.
“The retaining clip.”
Callum watched Merrick drop the object into his pocket.
A few minutes later, he returned the wheelchair to the west corridor.
Then the footage ended.
Rowena looked at Clara.
“This wasn't an accident.”
Clara's mouth trembled.
“I didn't know.”
Callum turned toward security.
“Where is Merrick now?”
“We're looking for him.”
Thea remembered the way he'd threatened Hazel.
The way he'd tried to fire her.
The way he'd reached for the maintenance slip.
“Merrick knows about the ledger,” she said.
Marian nodded.
“He tried to take my handbag.”
Callum's expression hardened.
“Then we need to keep him away from the records.”
Rowena looked toward the ballroom.
“And the guests?”
“They can go home,” Callum answered.
But Avalene suddenly stood.
“Wait.”
Everyone turned.
She had been sitting quietly since the footage began.
Her eyes were fixed on the tablet.
“I recognize that toolbox.”
Callum frowned.
“From where?”
“Edmund's office.”
Thea stared.
“A banquet manager's toolbox?”
Avalene shook her head.
“No. The small black case. Edmund keeps it in the lower cabinet of his office. I've seen him use it to repair the clasp on his old briefcase.”
Callum looked at the security supervisor.
“Can we check?”
“Yes.”
They crossed the hotel together.
Thea walked beside Marian.
For the first time, her mother seemed less frightened.
Not because the danger had passed.
Because the truth was finally being spoken aloud.
Edmund's office was on the second floor.
A framed photograph of Henry Larkmore stood on his desk.
Beside it was a crystal award for thirty years of distinguished service.
The lower cabinet contained a black toolbox.
Inside were pliers, screwdrivers, and a small plastic bag holding several brass clips.
One compartment was empty.
Callum looked at the security supervisor.
“Preserve everything. Don't touch more than necessary.”
The supervisor nodded.
Rowena examined the photograph of Henry.
“He trusted Edmund with everything.”
Marian stood beside her.
“So did I.”
Their eyes met.
For the first time, twenty-two years of misunderstanding seemed to fall away.
Rowena reached for Marian's hand.
“I should have looked for you.”
Marian's voice broke.
“I hoped you would.”
Rowena lowered her head.
“I'm sorry.”
Thea watched her mother squeeze the elderly woman's hand.
It was a small gesture.
But it meant more than all the expensive decorations downstairs.
Then Callum found a locked drawer beneath Edmund's desk.
He looked at security.
“Can you secure the office and have the drawer opened with an independent witness?”
The supervisor agreed.
A facilities manager arrived and unlocked the drawer while the supervisor documented the process.
Inside were financial statements.
Employee trust records.
Payment schedules.
And a red leather folder.
Avalene gasped when she saw it.
“That's mine.”
Callum looked at her.
“What?”
“My acquisition documents. I gave Edmund copies last month.”
He opened the folder.
Inside were signed financing agreements.
Several pages bore Avalene's signature.
Others bore Rowena's forged signature.
But one document was different.
It authorized the transfer of twelve million dollars from the employee trust into Varden Event Holdings.
Beneath the authorization appeared Edmund Price's name.
And beside it was a second signature.
Clara Varden.
Callum turned slowly toward his mother.
“You signed this?”
Clara looked stunned.
“No.”
He held it closer.
“It's your signature.”
“I didn't sign that.”
Edmund's office was silent.
Then Avalene pointed to the date.
“Callum, look.”
The transfer had been authorized on September 14.
Clara had been hospitalized for emergency gallbladder surgery that day.
Callum remembered.
He had spent the entire afternoon at her bedside.
“She couldn't have signed it in this office,” he said.
Thea looked at the document.
“Then someone forged Clara's signature too.”
Rowena examined the pages.
“And made sure both of us would be blamed.”
Thea felt the shape of the deception becoming clearer.
Someone had used the Varden women as shields.
Someone had moved money through Avalene's company.
Someone had kept Marian silent.
Someone had tampered with Rowena's wheelchair.
Callum opened the final section of the folder.
Inside was a recent bank statement.
A transfer request had been scheduled for midnight.
Eleven million dollars was to leave Varden Event Holdings.
The receiving institution was overseas.
The authorization required only one final approval.
Avalene's.
She stared at the paper.
“I didn't approve this.”
Callum checked his watch.
11:41 P.M.
Nineteen minutes until midnight.
Then Avalene looked at her phone.
Her face drained of color.
An automated notification glowed on the screen.
TRANSFER APPROVED — 11:39 P.M.
“I never touched it,” she whispered.
Callum looked toward the empty corridor.
May you like
And Rowena said what everyone was thinking.
“Edmund is stealing the money tonight.”
