Vivian's Evidence
Chapter 07 - Vivian's Evidence
Vivian arrived at Adrian's apartment two days later, a thick folder of old financial documents in hand, five years of carefully preserved evidence she'd kept, she explained, "in case anyone ever actually wanted to listen."
"I found these in Dad's home office," Vivian said, spreading the pages across the table. "Bank statements showing transfers to an account under a company called Halcyon Advisory Group. I traced the ownership, eventually, back to a shell registration connected to Desmond Cole's brother-in-law."
Farrah Nasser, present for the meeting given the investigation's expanding scope, reviewed the documents carefully. "This considerably strengthens the financial fraud timeline. If we can establish Desmond Cole's direct involvement going back this far, it becomes much harder for either him or your mother to claim ignorance or innocent oversight."
"Why didn't you go to the police five years ago," Adrian asked his sister.
"I tried," Vivian said, voice tight with old, unresolved grief. "I brought this exact folder to a detective at the time. He looked into it briefly, found nothing conclusive without full access to the actual accounts, and the case went nowhere. Mom's attorney meanwhile built a story about my own supposed financial instability that made me look like the unreliable one instead."
"I'm so sorry," Adrian said again. "I should have believed you years ago."
"You didn't have any reason to doubt her back then," Vivian said. "I understand that now, even though it hurt considerably at the time. I just hope this time, with everything else you've uncovered, it's finally enough to actually hold her accountable."
Farrah reviewed the full combined evidence that evening, financial documents spanning nearly a decade, Richard Kane's own letter, the accident investigator's original, dismissed suspicions, and now Vivian's independently gathered corroboration from years earlier.
"This is considerably more than I expected to have this early in the investigation," Farrah told Adrian. "I want to move quickly toward formal charges, both regarding the financial fraud and, pending the vehicle's forensic reexamination, potentially regarding your father's death as well."
"What about Desmond," Adrian asked. "Has anyone located him."
"He hasn't returned to his registered address since the night of the assault," Farrah said. "We have an active search underway. I want you prepared for the possibility that he's already fled, understanding exactly how much exposure this investigation now represents for him personally."
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Adrian sat with that possibility, understanding that even if Desmond disappeared entirely, the mounting evidence against his mother stood on its own, considerable and increasingly undeniable.
"I want her arrested," he said quietly. "Regardless of what happens with Desmond. I want this handled completely, properly, no matter how much it costs this family's name."
