Chapter 5 - THE FLASH DRIVEThe flash drive contained thirteen folders.
Contracts.
Bank statements.
Emails.
Scanned signatures.
Photos.
Amelia had been investigating something.
Not her husband’s affair.
Not family gossip.
Money.
Kingsley Strategic Holdings had paid Cresthaven Advisory Group nearly $3.8 million over two years.
Consulting.
Risk management.
Government compliance.
Except Cresthaven had almost no employees.
Its registered director was Bennett Voss.
Dr. Samuel Voss’s younger brother.
Harrison stared.
The family physician’s brother was receiving millions from Amelia’s company.
Why?
Another file.
Invoices approved by Julian.
Several also approved by Leonard Sloane.
Harrison felt anger sharpen.
The estate administrator had financial connections to Amelia’s business?
The structure was strange.
Then Amelia’s notes.
Julian says Cresthaven was Mother’s old relationship. Not true. Company formed 14 months after she died.
Another:
Leonard says services confidential due government clients. No documentation.
Another:
Samuel told me to stop stressing myself while pregnant. Why does my doctor know what I’m auditing?
Harrison stopped.
Someone had discussed Amelia’s private financial investigation with her physician.
Another note:
Nora saw Leonard in my office. He claims Julian sent him. Julian says he did not.
Another:
Found my digital signature on two invoices I never approved.
There.
Forgery.
Financial fraud.
Potentially millions.
Then the final file.
An audio recording.
Amelia’s voice.
Calm but tense.
“I am recording this because I’m beginning to think I’m being made to feel irrational.”
Harrison closed his eyes.
She continued.
“For three weeks, Julian, Leonard, and Dr. Voss have all separately told me pregnancy is making me paranoid.”
“I may be paranoid.”
“But I am not imagining signatures.”
Then:
“If anything happens to me, start with Cresthaven.”
The recording ended.
Harrison sat motionless.
Elias asked:
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Harrison looked at him.
Elias clarified:
“I’d be worried if you said yes.”
Harrison almost smiled.
Then he returned to the files.
Cresthaven payments split into accounts.
Some went to Bennett Voss.
Some to an offshore consultancy.
Some returned through a Virginia company controlled by Leonard’s adult son.
A kickback structure.
Julian approved payments.
Leonard benefited.
Dr. Voss’s family benefited.
Three men.
All near Amelia the day she died.
But which one crossed the line from fraud to killing?
Or had all of them?
Harrison refused to guess.
He needed medical evidence.
That required something emotionally unbearable.
An autopsy.
Amelia’s funeral had been scheduled for burial that afternoon.
Harrison stopped it.
Julian objected violently.
“You cannot do this to her.”
Harrison stared at him.
“To her?”
“She deserves peace.”
“So does the truth.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“You’re going to cut open your own daughter because a bruised maid tells you a story?”
Harrison nearly hit him.
Nearly.
Then remembered the coffin.
Remembered control.
He stepped back.
“No.”
“I’m going to ask independent doctors why an eight-month-pregnant woman died inside her home without anyone calling an ambulance.”
Julian looked away.
Harrison saw fear.
But fear could mean guilt.
Or simply terror of investigation.
He would not decide yet.
The state medical examiner accepted the case after law enforcement reviewed the unusual circumstances.
Burial delayed.
The mansion emptied.
Guests left whispering.
News began leaking.
Four-star general stops daughter’s burial.
Possible suspicious death.
Harrison did not care.
May you like
For the first time since Amelia died, something mattered more than the family name.
Truth.
Related Stories
