Chapter 10 - Arthur’s Secret
Arthur did not deny it.
When Daniel confronted him in a private hospital conference room, the old butler closed the door and remained standing.
“In 2004,” Arthur said, “your father asked me to move money.”
Daniel stared at him.
“How much?”
“Two million dollars.”
“For what?”
“A settlement.”
Arthur explained that one year after Charles married Eleanor, a former Vance employee named Rebecca Sloan had threatened to sue. She claimed Eleanor ordered company accountants to falsify vendor invoices.
Charles panicked.
Instead of investigating, he paid Rebecca for silence.
Arthur carried the documents to her attorney.
“You helped bury evidence,” Daniel said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I believed loyalty meant obeying the family.”
Arthur looked at Sarah through the glass wall.
“I was wrong.”
“Where is Rebecca now?”
“I don’t know.”
Sarah, pale but stronger, had insisted on being wheeled into the room.
“Eleanor knows you’ll tell us,” she said. “That’s why she sent the message.”
Arthur nodded.
“She is trying to make you doubt me before I can testify.”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“Is there anything else?”
Arthur took a long breath.
“Yes.”
Daniel’s eyes snapped up.
“The night your father died, I saw Eleanor leave his room at 2:10 a.m. She was carrying his medication box.”
“You told police you were asleep.”
“I lied.”
Daniel slammed his palm against the table.
“Why?”
“Because she told me that if I spoke, she would expose the Rebecca settlement and claim I stole the money myself.”
“You chose yourself.”
“Yes.”
Arthur’s voice broke for the first time.
“I chose fear.”
Daniel turned away.
Sarah spoke quietly.
“And then, when she pushed me, he chose differently.”
Daniel stared at the city beyond the window.
Finally, he turned back.
“You testify to all of it. No more secrets.”
“No more.”
Detective Ortiz located Rebecca Sloan that afternoon.
She was living in Vermont under her married name.
When Ortiz called, Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“You people are twenty-two years late.”
Then she heard Eleanor’s name.
The laugh stopped.
“I kept copies,” Rebecca said.
“Copies of what?”
“Everything.”
She agreed to meet federal investigators the next morning.
At 5:43 p.m., before she could leave her house, smoke began pouring from her detached garage.
A neighbor called 911.
Firefighters arrived in time to save the home.
Inside the garage, they found a metal filing cabinet forced open.
Rebecca’s records were gone.
But security footage from the neighbor’s doorbell camera showed a woman in a dark coat walking away minutes before the fire.
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Even through the rain, the face was clear.
Eleanor Vance had found Rebecca first.
