Chapter 12 - Helen Price Had Been There From the BeginningHelen Price was found at Los Angeles International Airport.
Not boarding.
Waiting.
She had purchased no ticket.
She sat near baggage claim with one suitcase and a burner phone.
Police brought her in.
Richard insisted on seeing her.
Marcus advised against it.
Richard ignored him.
Emily remained upstairs.
Helen entered the hotel conference room handcuffed.
Sixty-four.
Elegant.
Calm.
She looked at Richard.
“I wondered how long.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“Nineteen years.”
“Longer.”
Marcus watched.
“You knew Anna.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Helen smiled sadly.
“I hired her.”
Anna’s first job at Hale Group was temporary summer work in executive archives.
Helen was then Howard Hale’s assistant.
She liked Anna immediately.
Smart.
Defiant.
Curious.
Too curious.
Anna discovered old financial ledgers.
Introduced Thomas to Helen.
The three began investigating Edmund Lang’s accounting.
“Then why betray them?” Marcus asked.
Helen’s eyes changed.
“I didn’t at first.”
Edmund threatened her.
He had evidence Helen stole money.
She denied it.
Then admitted.
Once.
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
Her husband needed surgery.
Insurance refused part of it.
She planned to repay.
Edmund found out.
He owned her from that day.
Small permission.
Large consequence.
Eleanor? no, different story. But theme holds.
Edmund forced Helen to give him access.
Schedules.
Codes.
Correspondence.
Eventually Richard’s credentials.
When Thomas discovered fraud, Edmund panicked.
“Did Edmund kill Thomas?”
Helen looked down.
“No.”
“Who?”
Silence.
Richard leaned forward.
“Helen.”
“He did it himself.”
Nobody understood.
Thomas’s boating death was not murder in the simple sense.
Edmund threatened to expose Samuel’s fraudulent accounts.
Thomas believed Samuel would be prosecuted.
Edmund demanded the Blue Ledger.
Thomas agreed to exchange it aboard the yacht.
Instead Thomas tried to destroy evidence.
A fight occurred.
Not with Edmund.
With Victor.
Marcus froze.
“Victor was there?”
Twenty-seven-year-old Victor Lang.
His father sent him.
Victor fought Thomas.
Fuel spilled.
Fire started accidentally.
Victor escaped on a dinghy.
Thomas did not.
Helen learned days later.
Edmund forced her to help cover Victor’s involvement.
“What about Anna’s car?”
Helen looked at Marcus.
“Victor.”
Of course.
Victor feared Anna knew.
He hired someone to force her off the road.
Not kill her necessarily.
Scare her.
Anna survived.
Then disappeared.
Helen helped.
Marcus stared.
“You helped Anna escape?”
“Yes.”
“Then kept working for the people hunting her?”
“I thought Edmund was watching me.”
“Edmund died fifteen years ago.”
Helen closed her eyes.
“Victor took over.”
The son inherited not only secrets.
Control.
Richard whispered:
“You signed foundation payments.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Victor threatened my grandchildren.”
Marcus felt exhausted by fear.
Every adult had a reason.
Every reason left another child paying.
“Did you intercept Anna’s letters?”
“No.”
“Victor did?”
“Yes.”
“Why not tell Richard?”
Helen looked at him.
“Because Victor told me if Anna came back, Emily would become a target.”
Emily already was.
Marcus’s anger rose.
Helen continued.
“Anna knew.”
“What?”
“The last year.”
“Anna knew Victor still watched her?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Helen secretly reconnected with Anna.
Fourteen months ago.
Using an encrypted email.
Anna was sick.
She knew she would die.
She wanted Emily returned to the family, but safely.
“She designed tonight.”
Marcus froze.
“What?”
Not exactly the gala.
But the method.
Anna told Emily to bring the violin to the Beverly Hills Grand because she knew Victor would recognize it.
She expected Victor’s greed to expose him.
Marcus stared.
“She used her daughter as bait?”
Helen’s eyes filled.
“No.”
“She sent a nine-year-old into a building containing the man who hunted her!”
“She believed Marcus would be there.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“I wasn’t supposed to attend.”
“You were.”
“What?”
Helen had anonymously sent Marcus a gala invitation three weeks ago.
Marcus remembered.
He almost threw it away.
He attended because the Hale name still pulled at old wounds.
Anna counted on that.
“She knew you.”
Marcus sat down.
Emily’s mother had orchestrated the first collision after death.
Violin.
Marcus.
Victor.
Richard.
Not because she wanted drama.
Because ordinary channels had failed for nine years.
Richard whispered:
“What else did Anna ask you to do?”
Helen looked toward the ceiling.
“Make sure Emily never receives Howard’s shares until Victor is exposed.”
Marcus frowned.
“Why?”
“Because once the trust confirms her existence…”
Helen swallowed.
“…Victor’s last insurance policy activates.”
“What insurance policy?”
“He has copies of documents that make Anna look responsible for the entire fraud.”
Richard stared.
“Forgery.”
“Some.”
“Some?”
Helen’s face darkened.
“Anna did sign one thing.”
Marcus’s pulse changed.
“What?”
“A transfer.”
“Of what?”
“Forty-two million dollars.”
The exact money moved through Samuel’s fake accounts.
Marcus stared.
“You said Anna was framed.”
“She was.”
“Then why did she sign?”
May you like
Helen answered:
“Because Thomas asked her to.”
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