Chapter 9 - Emily’s Last Months
Derek did not sleep that night.
He sat in Emily’s old study at the chalet and opened boxes he had avoided for three years.
Medical bills.
Hospice notes.
Cards.
Her calendar.
He refused to let Serena’s implication pull him into a cheap fantasy that Grant had somehow caused Emily’s cancer.
Emily had died from ovarian cancer.
That fact was medically documented.
But “medical records” could mean something else.
He found it at 3:40 a.m.
A folder marked PRIVATE.
Inside was correspondence between Emily and an outside forensic accountant.
She had been investigating Hale Mountain vendor payments while undergoing chemotherapy.
Derek stared at dates.
She had been working on the fraud until six weeks before her death.
One email said:
Grant knows I found the Alpine invoices. He came to the infusion center today and asked me to stop.
Another:
He says exposing this now could destroy Derek.
Derek gripped the paper.
Emily had protected him even while he had been too busy to see what she was carrying.
The last email had never been sent.
Draft only.
Derek,
I need you to understand that loyalty to a company is not the same as loyalty to a family.
Grant is moving money.
I think someone else on the board knows.
I was afraid to tell you because every time I raise something that threatens Hale Mountain, you defend the company first.
Derek closed his eyes.
He had never received it.
That did not make it less true.
At sunrise, Caleb found him sitting on the floor.
“What are those?”
“Your mom’s papers.”
“Are you crying?”
“Yes.”
Caleb sat beside him.
Children had no patience for dignified grief.
“Did Mom know Serena?”
“No.”
“Then why did Serena know about Mom’s papers?”
Derek looked at him.
That was the right question.
Serena had entered Derek’s life eighteen months after Emily’s death.
Yet she knew Emily investigated Grant.
Grant must have told her.
Or Serena had found the papers herself.
Caleb pointed to Emily’s calendar.
“What’s BR?”
Derek looked.
Several entries.
BR — CALL AFTER INFUSION.
BR — ORIGINALS SAFE.
BR — TRUST NO INTERNAL EMAIL.
Derek frowned.
“I don’t know.”
Mason did.
“Blue Ridge,” he said later.
Derek stared.
“That’s a place?”
“Old climbing hut above Frostline. People call it Blue Ridge Station.”
Emily’s blue key had opened the survey cabin.
Perhaps the cabin held a clue pointing higher.
Sheriff Ortiz obtained permission from Margaret as trustee to search the property.
At Blue Ridge Station they found a sealed metal document tube hidden beneath a floor panel.
Inside were original invoices and handwritten notes.
Emily had documented years of overbilling through Alpine Mechanical.
The total at the time of her investigation:
$7.6 million.
One invoice contained an authorization signature.
Grant Mercer.
Another contained an approval from board member Victor Lang.
Derek felt sick.
The fraud predated Serena.
She had joined it later.
Mason found a small digital recorder wrapped in plastic.
The battery was dead.
Investigators took it for forensic recovery.
By evening, they extracted one audio file.
Emily’s voice.
Weak.
Tired.
Grant’s voice answered.
“You don’t know what you’re accusing me of.”
“I know exactly what Alpine Mechanical is.”
“You’re sick.”
“I have cancer, Grant. That does not make me stupid.”
Derek’s hands shook.
Emily continued.
“You’re stealing from the company.”
Grant lowered his voice.
“I’m keeping it alive.”
“With fake invoices?”
“With liquidity you don’t understand.”
“You’re moving cash out.”
“Temporarily.”
“To where?”
Silence.
Then Grant said:
“If Derek sees this, he’ll protect the company before he protects you.”
Emily answered:
“That’s what you’re counting on.”
Derek stopped the recording.
He could not listen for several minutes.
Then he forced himself to continue.
Grant said:
“Sign the Frostline access option and this goes away.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“No.”
“You’re dying.”
Derek stood so fast his chair fell backward.
On the recording Emily remained calm.
“So?”
“You really want to leave Derek with a financial war while raising Caleb alone?”
“You don’t care about Derek.”
“I care about Hale Mountain.”
“That’s the problem.”
The recording ended.
Sheriff Ortiz looked at Derek.
“We have evidence of coercion and financial misconduct.”
“But not Serena’s mountain plan.”
“Not yet.”
Benjamin entered holding a forensic report.
“We may have that connection.”
He placed a resort maintenance log on the table.
At 6:12 that morning, someone had ordered grooming staff not to touch the section of slope where Serena later released Caleb.
May you like
The authorization came through an executive account.
Grant Mercer.
