Chapter 6 - The Missing Suitcase
Bellmere House had twelve exterior cameras.
None showed an intruder.
That meant whoever entered knew how to avoid them.
Or had access from inside.
William called the police.
Rachel called a private evidence-response firm.
Diana called no one.
William noticed.
“You know who did this.”
“I know who might.”
“Malcolm.”
She nodded.
“Why take the suitcase?”
“It contained the Shaw material.”
“What else?”
“I don’t know.”
“You helped Eleanor organize the room.”
“Years ago. Not at the end.”
William stared at the warning.
“Stop digging into the crash.”
Diana whispered, “He knows.”
“Knows what?”
“That we’re looking.”
William’s anger sharpened.
“Good.”
“No, William.”
She caught his arm.
“He gets worse when he’s cornered.”
William looked at her hand until she released him.
“You still sound like someone protecting him.”
“I sound like someone who knows him.”
That afternoon, the police found no forced entry into the house.
One basement window showed fresh tool marks.
Security footage from a neighboring property captured a black SUV parking two streets away at 2:11 a.m.
William recognized it.
Malcolm’s driver used the same model.
Not proof.
Enough to make his stomach turn.
Rachel advised restraint.
William ignored her and drove to Hartwell Development headquarters.
Malcolm’s office occupied the top floor.
He smiled when William entered.
“You look terrible.”
“Where is the suitcase?”
Malcolm’s expression did not change.
“What suitcase?”
“From Bellmere.”
“Did someone rob you?”
William placed the warning note on his desk.
Malcolm read it.
“Dramatic.”
“Did you follow Eleanor the night she died?”
There.
For the first time, Malcolm reacted.
Barely.
His right hand stopped moving.
Then he leaned back.
“You’ve been talking to Diana.”
“Yes.”
“That woman will burn the house down to avoid admitting she lit the first match.”
“Answer me.”
“No.”
“You won’t?”
“No, I didn’t follow Eleanor.”
“Did you know where she was going?”
Malcolm’s eyes sharpened.
“Everyone knew she was unstable that spring.”
William slammed both hands onto the desk.
“Do not call her that.”
Malcolm’s smile disappeared.
“She was threatening lenders, trustees, directors. She was going to trigger a default.”
“She was exposing fraud.”
“Is that Diana’s new story?”
“It’s in the documents.”
“What documents?”
William stopped.
Too late.
Malcolm saw it.
“You found something.”
William said nothing.
Malcolm stood.
“Listen to me. Hartwell employs fourteen hundred people. In 2021, the company was forty-eight hours from missing payroll.”
“Because you loaded it with debt.”
“Because your expansion program failed.”
William flinched.
Malcolm pressed harder.
“You signed the acquisitions.”
“Based on numbers you gave me.”
“You were CEO.”
There it was.
The truth both brothers used as a weapon.
William could not blame Malcolm for every decision.
He had benefited from not looking closely.
Malcolm walked around the desk.
“Eleanor wanted her collateral out at the worst possible moment.”
“Because you altered her rights.”
“She wanted control.”
“She owned twenty-two percent.”
“And thought that made her smarter than everyone.”
William looked at him.
“You hated her.”
“I feared what she would do.”
“That is not the same thing.”
Malcolm smiled coldly.
“In our family, it usually is.”
That evening, Diana received a call.
She listened in silence.
Then hung up.
William watched from the kitchen.
“Who?”
“No one.”
He laughed.
She closed her eyes.
“Gregory Shaw.”
William stood.
“What did he want?”
“He heard someone took the suitcase.”
“How?”
“I called him yesterday.”
William stared.
“You what?”
“I wanted the ledger.”
“You contacted the man who notarized the forged amendment before we preserved his records?”
“I panicked.”
“Again.”
Diana flinched.
“What did Gregory say?”
“That the ledger isn’t with him.”
“Where is it?”
“He gave it to Eleanor.”
“The suitcase.”
“Probably.”
William swore.
Diana grabbed her coat.
“Where are you going?”
“Gregory said something else.”
“What?”
“The suitcase has a false bottom.”
William stopped.
“How does he know?”
“Because he built it.”
They found Gregory Shaw at his house in Connecticut.
Seventy-three.
Thin.
Shaking.
He refused to let them inside until Rachel arrived.
Once counsel was present, Gregory confessed.
Malcolm had instructed his office to notarize several documents retroactively.
Gregory had resisted.
Then agreed.
“Why?” William asked.
Gregory looked ashamed.
“Hartwell was my largest client.”
“That’s your answer?”
“My son’s firm had loans guaranteed by Malcolm.”
Always leverage.
Always fear.
Gregory continued.
“Eleanor discovered irregularities in my notary ledger.”
“Did she have the original?”
“A photocopy.”
“What was in the suitcase false bottom?”
Gregory’s eyes shifted toward Diana.
“A digital recorder.”
Diana went pale.
William noticed.
“What recording?”
Gregory looked at her.
“You never told him?”
“Told me what?”
May you like
Gregory swallowed.
“The conversation from the night Eleanor died.”
