Chapter 7 - The Sinister Legacy
We sat at Clara’s kitchen table while she poured two cups of hot water that neither of us touched.
"Six years ago, before our parents got sick, I was auditing the family trust accounts," Clara began, her fingers nervously tracing the rim of her mug. "Do you remember when Uncle Raymond took over Dad's logistics company after the bankruptcy scare?"
I nodded slowly. Uncle Raymond was our father’s younger brother—a flamboyant, wealthy businessman who had graciously stepped in to manage the family estate when Dad suffered his first stroke. Raymond had paid for our college tuition and maintained the family home. We viewed him as our savior.
"Raymond didn't save the company, Evie," Clara said, her voice turning cold. "He plundered it. He used Dad's freight network to launder money for an overseas narcotics syndicate. When I discovered the altered ledgers, I confronted him. I was stupid. I thought he was just misguided. I threatened to take the evidence to the federal authorities."
My stomach churned violently. "Uncle Raymond?"
"Three nights later, on the Blackwood Bridge, a black SUV rammed my car off the railing," Clara continued, her voice shaking with remembered terror. "I survived because the driver's side window shattered upon impact, allowing me to swim free before the car sank into the mud. I crawled up the embankment half-dead. I knew that if Raymond found out I survived, he would kill me, and if he couldn't reach me, he’d silence you and Mom to ensure the trust stayed under his control."
"So where did Eliam come from?" I asked, bewildered.
"I had nowhere to go," Clara whispered. "I couldn't go to the police—Raymond had judges and precinct captains on his payroll. So I called Eliam. I knew how fiercely he loved you. I knew he was the only person with the resources and loyalty to keep you safe."
"Eliam hid you?"
"Eliam rented this apartment through a shell corporation," Clara explained. "He arranged a fake identity for me. He took over the investigation, tracking Raymond’s financial paper trail for six years, waiting until we had enough ironclad evidence to hand over to the Department of Justice so Raymond couldn't buy his way out."
"Then who is in Room 104?" I asked.
May you like
Clara swallowed hard, her eyes darkening with grief. "Raymond’s former chief accountant. The man who signed the fraudulent transfers. Two weeks ago, someone poisoned him. Eliam got him into that clinic under an alias to keep him on life support until his deposition tomorrow morning."
***
