Richard's Letter
Chapter 03 - Richard's Letter
Claire retrieved the hidden letter from where she'd tucked it inside a book on the guest suite's shelf, hands still trembling as she handed it to Adrian.
He unfolded it carefully, his father's familiar handwriting immediately tightening something in his chest, a voice he hadn't heard directly in three years arriving unexpectedly through ink on aging paper.
*Adrian,* the letter began, *if you're ever reading this, it likely means I never found the courage to say it to you directly, which I deeply regret. I've discovered discrepancies in the trust accounts that I believe your mother has been quietly diverting for years, into accounts connected to a shell company I can't fully trace yet. I intend to confront her properly, with legal counsel present, within the month. I am documenting everything here in case something happens to me before I manage that conversation.*
Adrian's hands shook as he continued reading, the letter growing more specific, more damning with every line, his father detailing exact figures, exact dates, a pattern of embezzlement spanning years that Richard Kane had apparently only recently uncovered before his own death.
*I want you to know,* the letter continued, *that if anything happens to me in the coming weeks, I do not believe it will be an accident, regardless of how it's eventually explained to you.*
Adrian set the letter down, hands entirely unsteady now, the specific, devastating implication of that final sentence landing with the full weight of everything it suggested.
"He died three weeks after this letter is dated," Adrian said slowly. "The car accident. On the coastal highway, during a storm."
"I know," Claire said gently. "I looked up the date on my phone while you were downstairs. Adrian, I think your father believed your mother might do something to stop him from exposing what he'd found."
"He died in a single-car accident," Adrian said, though his voice carried considerably less certainty than the words themselves suggested. "The investigation found no evidence of foul play. I remember reading the report myself, years ago."
"Investigations can be wrong," Claire said. "Or incomplete. Especially if someone with resources and influence had reason to make sure they stayed that way."
Adrian sat with the full, terrible possibility now sitting directly in front of him, a father he'd mourned as the victim of tragic misfortune, potentially instead the victim of his own wife's calculated ambition.
"I need to see the original accident report," he said. "And I need considerably more information about these financial transfers, beyond what Dad managed to document before he died."
"There's something else," Claire said quietly. "The handwriting on some of the transfer authorizations. I don't think it's your mother's. I think someone else has been helping her manage this, for years."
Adrian looked at her, the same cold understanding from the main room settling back over him.
May you like
"The person who grabbed you tonight," he said slowly.
"I think so," Claire said. "I think whoever helped hide this money has been protecting your mother for a very long time, Adrian. Possibly since before your father ever died."
