Chapter 8 - THE WITNESS WHO CHOSE THE TRUTH
Ava read Derek Cole's statement three times.
Each time, the words became harder to believe.
I believe Ava Moretti requires psychiatric supervision.
She remembered Derek holding her hand at her mother's memorial.
She remembered him promising she wouldn't have to face the grief alone.
She remembered how he stopped answering her messages after Conrad challenged her inheritance.
Now his name appeared on a document that could take away her independence.
Victoria reached for the laptop.
Ava pulled it closer.
“Don't.”
Her mother stopped.
“I wasn't going to hide it.”
“I know. But I need to read everything.”
Rachel Mercer spoke carefully.
“Ava, this petition depends on convincing the court that you're incapable of making responsible financial decisions.”
“Because I cried at a party?”
“Because they intend to present your reaction without showing what happened before it.”
Ava looked at her mother.
“Then we show everything.”
Victoria nodded.
“We'll obtain the complete ballroom recordings.”
“No,” Ava said. “We'll ask the people who were there to tell the truth.”
Rachel smiled faintly.
“That would be considerably stronger.”
By noon, Frank D'Amico had agreed to provide a statement.
So had two members of the catering staff.
One had watched Sloane throw the dog bowl.
Another had seen Meredith slap Ava.
But Derek's statement still troubled her.
She had to understand why he signed it.
That afternoon, they met him in a quiet restaurant near Hoboken.
Ava insisted on speaking to him without her mother.
Derek arrived looking exhausted.
He hadn't shaved.
His engagement ring was missing from his right hand, where Sloane had given him a matching band.
“Ava,” he began.
She placed the statement on the table.
“Did you sign this?”
Derek stared at it.
“Yes.”
“Did Conrad threaten you?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
That answer surprised her.
“Then why?”
Derek swallowed.
“Because I believed some of what they told me.”
Ava sat motionless.
He continued.
“Conrad said you were refusing treatment. That you were spending money recklessly. That you'd become obsessed with the idea he stole your inheritance.”
“And you believed him?”
“I remembered how badly you were struggling after your mother disappeared.”
Ava felt her face grow hot.
“I was grieving.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew it then.”
Derek lowered his head.
He didn't argue.
“I was afraid of the Moretti family,” he admitted. “I wanted a life where I didn't have to worry about what your mother did for a living.”
“So you left.”
“Yes.”
“And then you got engaged to Conrad's daughter.”
Derek looked ashamed.
“I told myself Sloane was different.”
Ava leaned forward.
“Did you love her?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt less than she expected.
“Then why did you let her humiliate me?”
Derek's eyes filled.
“Because I was a coward.”
Ava stood.
“Then stop being one.”
She picked up her bag.
“You don't have to love me. You don't even have to like me. But you will tell the court what you actually saw.”
Derek nodded.
“I will.”
Ava stopped before leaving.
“And Derek?”
He looked up.
“Don't mistake doing one decent thing for earning another chance with me.”
She walked away before he could answer.
That evening, Victoria accompanied Ava to a modest union meeting room near the waterfront.
Ruth Serrano was waiting.
She was sixty-four, with silver hair pinned at the back of her head and reading glasses hanging from a cord.
When Victoria entered, Ruth didn't stand.
“So,” she said, “the queen finally came home.”
Victoria accepted the bitterness.
“I did.”
Ruth folded her arms.
“Where were you when Conrad stopped paying the disability benefits?”
“Recovering from the crash.”
“And before the crash?”
Victoria hesitated.
Ruth's eyes sharpened.
“You knew the reserve accounts were running short.”
“I knew there were irregularities.”
“You told me to give Conrad time to correct them.”
Victoria looked down.
“Yes.”
Ava turned toward her mother.
“You never told me that.”
Victoria met her eyes.
“I should have.”
Ruth opened a battered cardboard box.
Inside were copies of employee benefit statements, bank deposit notices, and internal payment requests.
“I kept duplicates before they fired me.”
She placed them on the table.
“For two years, people told me I was bitter because I lost my job. But I knew what I'd seen.”
Ava opened the first folder.
A retired worker had been told his benefits were paid.
His bank statement showed otherwise.
A widow had received a letter confirming a settlement she never collected.
Another worker had supposedly approved a withdrawal while recovering from major surgery.
Ruth tapped the records.
“The money didn't disappear. It was transferred to a private company called North Quay Administrative Services.”
Arthur had identified that name earlier.
It belonged to a group of businesses controlled by Conrad.
Victoria looked at the payment dates.
“This began before my flight.”
Ruth nodded.
“Almost six months before.”
Ava felt a sick realization.
“Conrad knew Mom was investigating him.”
“He knew,” Ruth replied.
Then she removed a thin gray folder from the bottom of the box.
“I thought the financial transfers were the worst of it.”
Victoria stared at the folder.
“What is that?”
“Aircraft service invoices.”
Ava frowned.
“Why would those be with pension files?”
“Because the payments were disguised as employee insurance expenses.”
Ruth opened the folder.
Three years earlier, North Quay had transferred a large sum to a private aviation maintenance contractor.
The payment was made two days before Victoria's final flight.
The vendor's representative was named Silas Kent.
Victoria recognized him.
“He used to oversee Conrad's private security arrangements.”
Ruth nodded.
“After the crash, that same contractor received another payment. Much larger.”
Ava looked at the invoice.
“What was the first payment for?”
Ruth turned the page.
At first, the writing appeared routine.
Equipment inspection.
Flight communications.
Emergency systems.
Then Ava noticed a handwritten instruction beside the emergency locator entry.
It had been initialed by Silas Kent.
An aviation safety consultant retained by Ruth had flagged it years earlier.
But no one had investigated because Ruth had been dismissed.
Victoria leaned closer.
The instruction contained only five words.
“Disconnect transmitter before scheduled departure.”
Ava looked up slowly.
“Mom, what's an emergency locator?”
Victoria's voice had gone thin.
“A device that helps rescuers find an aircraft after a crash.”
Ruth nodded.
“The maintenance record suggests someone ordered yours disconnected.”
Ava stared at the invoice.
Until that moment, she had believed her mother's plane disappeared because something went wrong.
Now she understood why the wreckage had been found but Victoria hadn't.
Someone had made it harder for rescuers to locate the aircraft.
She turned the page.
The payment authorization had been issued from Conrad's personal office.
And beneath the authorization was an instruction that made Victoria grip the table.
No further inspection required before departure.
Ava looked at her mother.
For the first time, she saw something stronger than anger.
Recognition.
Victoria whispered, “He didn't just steal my companies.”
May you like
Then she looked directly at her daughter.
“He knew I might never come home.”
