Chapter 7 - THE MAN INSIDE MY FATHER'S COMPANY
David did not speak during the drive back.
Lily had known Mark Ellison nearly her entire life.
He had attended birthdays.
He sent Christmas baskets.
He called David “brother” even though they were not related.
When Catherine became sick, Mark had taken over more of the day-to-day management at Carter Construction so David could attend appointments.
At Catherine’s funeral, Mark had stood beside David longer than anyone else.
Now police had found Vanessa in his car.
Detective Mitchell refused to speculate.
“That could mean a lot of things.”
David stared out the window.
“It means he knows her.”
“Maybe.”
“It means he picked up my wife after she ran from police.”
“That part is fair.”
Mark had been stopped near Lancaster.
Vanessa was in the passenger seat.
According to Mitchell’s update, officers detained Vanessa for questioning in connection with the domestic assault complaint and her attempted flight.
Mark claimed he had received a distressed call from Vanessa and believed David had become violent.
David laughed when he heard that.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the lie was so predictable.
“She told him I was dangerous.”
Mitchell nodded.
“Apparently.”
“She used the same story she’s used everywhere.”
“Possibly.”
“What did Mark say about knowing her before our marriage?”
“He says he didn’t.”
David looked at him.
“And you believe that?”
“I believe evidence.”
Back at Thomas’s sister’s house, Madison was waiting.
When David told her Mark’s name, she dropped the mug she was holding.
It shattered.
Lily stared at her.
“You know him.”
Madison backed away.
“No.”
“You do.”
“I’ve seen him.”
David moved closer.
“Where?”
Madison looked terrified.
“Before we moved here.”
The room fell silent.
“When?” David asked.
Madison swallowed.
“Maybe three years ago.”
“That was before I met Vanessa.”
“I know.”
“Where did you see him?”
“In Dayton.”
David gripped the back of a chair.
“What was he doing?”
“He came to our apartment.”
“How many times?”
“I don’t know. Three? Four?”
David closed his eyes.
Thomas asked, “Did you hear what they discussed?”
“No.”
Madison hesitated.
“Except once.”
Everyone waited.
“I came home early from school. Mom didn’t know.”
Her hands trembled.
“I heard them arguing about money.”
David’s voice became rough.
“What money?”
“Mark said something about a company valuation. Mom told him he was being impatient.”
David slowly sat down.
Madison continued.
“He said, ‘You said the wife wouldn’t last the year.’”
Lily felt sick.
David’s head snapped up.
“What?”
“I didn’t know what he meant.”
“Are you sure those were his words?”
“Yes.”
Thomas looked at Mitchell.
The detective was already writing.
“What did your mother say?”
Madison squeezed her eyes shut.
“She said, ‘Cancer doesn’t follow a calendar.’”
Nobody moved.
Lily stared at Madison.
“And you never told anyone?”
“I was thirteen.”
Madison’s voice cracked.
“I thought they were talking about somebody from work.”
David put both hands over his face.
Thomas walked to the window.
Detective Mitchell asked carefully, “Anything else?”
Madison nodded.
“Mark said he wanted David distracted.”
David lowered his hands.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“He said, ‘As long as he’s distracted, I can keep moving things without him noticing.’”
David stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
“The company.”
Mitchell looked at him.
“What?”
David grabbed his phone.
“Our financials.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“David.”
“I gave Mark control of vendor approvals when Catherine got worse.”
“How much control?”
“Enough.”
His fingers moved quickly across the screen.
“I need to call our controller.”
Mitchell raised a hand.
“Do not alert anyone inside the company yet.”
“Why?”
“If Mark is involved in financial crimes, we preserve records before he knows we’re looking.”
David stared at him.
Then slowly lowered the phone.
Thomas asked, “What could he move without you noticing?”
“Payments. Subcontractor accounts. Equipment leases.”
“How much?”
David shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Lily had never understood her father’s company.
To her, Carter Construction meant reflective vests hanging in the mudroom, pickup trucks, blueprints, and David getting calls during dinner.
Now she understood enough to be afraid.
Vanessa had not simply married her father.
She may have been placed in his path.
Detective Mitchell contacted the financial crimes unit.
Within two hours, a subpoena process had begun.
Thomas contacted Carter Construction’s outside CPA.
David gave permission for an emergency review of company accounts.
At three that afternoon, accountant Sarah McKenna arrived carrying a laptop.
Her face told David everything before she spoke.
“We have a problem.”
“How bad?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Sarah.”
She sat at the table.
“I found four vendor entities I don’t recognize.”
David frowned.
“Names?”
“Buckeye Materials Group. Central Ridge Consulting. M.E. Equipment Services. Hale Project Logistics.”
Madison whispered, “Hale.”
Sarah looked confused.
David said, “Keep going.”
“Over twenty-nine months, those entities received just under eight hundred thousand dollars.”
Thomas swore quietly.
David went pale.
“Who approved them?”
“Mostly Mark.”
“Mostly?”
Sarah looked at him.
“Some have your electronic approval.”
“I never approved those.”
“That’s what worries me.”
Mitchell leaned forward.
“Could someone access his credentials?”
David laughed bitterly.
“My wife had my passwords.”
Sarah turned toward him.
“Your wife?”
“Keep going.”
She opened payment records.
Several transactions had gone to an account belonging to Hale Project Logistics.
Registered owner:
Vanessa Pierce.
Madison whispered, “That’s her.”
David looked as though the floor had disappeared.
Sarah continued.
“The company was formed four months before Vanessa met you.”
Mitchell asked, “How much went there?”
“One hundred eighty-six thousand.”
David stared at the screen.
“For what?”
“Consulting.”
“We never hired her.”
Sarah nodded.
“I know.”
Lily sat quietly beside Madison.
The adults spoke about bank records and digital signatures.
But one thought kept growing inside Lily.
Vanessa had planned everything.
Maybe even the meeting with David.
She remembered the grief fundraiser.
Vanessa laughing at David’s joke.
Vanessa bringing Lily a bracelet the second time they met.
Vanessa saying, “Your dad talks about you constantly.”
At the time, it had felt loving.
Now it felt researched.
Madison suddenly stood.
“I need my backpack.”
Officer Ramirez, still stationed at the house, asked, “Why?”
“I have something.”
She retrieved a faded black backpack from the guest room.
From the bottom lining, she pulled out an old tablet.
“I kept this when Mom told me to throw it away.”
Vanessa’s old tablet.
Madison entered a four-digit passcode.
David looked surprised.
“You know it?”
“It’s my birthday.”
The home screen appeared.
Most apps were empty.
But one folder was hidden behind a calculator application.
Madison opened it.
Photographs.
Hundreds.
Documents.
Driver’s licenses.
Checks.
Bank statements.
Medical paperwork.
Lily recognized the Carter kitchen.
One photograph showed Catherine’s trust papers spread across the table.
Another showed David’s company letterhead.
Another showed a business card.
MARK ELLISON — CARTER CONSTRUCTION.
David stepped closer.
“Oh God.”
Madison scrolled.
A screenshot of text messages appeared.
The sender name was M.
One message read:
HE STILL DOESN’T KNOW WE’VE MET.
Another:
DON’T PUSH THE WIDOWER TOO FAST.
Another:
THE GIRL IS THE PROBLEM. THE HOUSE AND TRUST STAY TIED TO HER.
Lily felt Madison’s hand find hers.
Neither girl spoke.
David looked at Detective Mitchell.
“Tell me that’s enough.”
“For what?”
“To prove this was planned.”
Mitchell’s expression was grim.
“It proves we need warrants.”
Madison scrolled farther.
Then she stopped.
“What?”
Lily asked.
Madison enlarged a photograph.
It showed Vanessa standing beside Mark.
They were outside a restaurant.
The date stamp was four years earlier.
Before Catherine died.
But behind them stood someone else.
A woman.
Thin.
Wearing a head scarf.
Catherine.
Lily whispered, “Mom?”
David stared at the picture.
“No.”
His voice became barely audible.
“That can’t be.”
Thomas moved closer.
The photo showed all three of them together.
Catherine.
Mark.
Vanessa.
Lily looked at David.
“You said Mom didn’t know Mark knew Vanessa.”
“He didn’t.”
“But they were together.”
“I don’t understand.”
Then Madison noticed a small white paper visible in Catherine’s hand.
She zoomed in.
There was handwriting on it.
Only three words could be read.
MEET ME ALONE.
David stepped backward.
Catherine had met Vanessa and Mark together before her death.
Which meant Lily’s mother had uncovered far more than anyone realized.
And if Catherine had met them willingly, there might be another recording somewhere.
Thomas suddenly remembered the second sealed envelope from the safe-deposit box.
He rushed toward Catherine’s folder.
They had never opened it.
Across the front Catherine had written:
DAVID — ONLY AFTER YOU KNOW ABOUT MARK.
May you like
David stared at his dead wife’s handwriting.
Then he reached for the envelope.
