Chapter 6 - The Missing Ledger
The private airfield sat behind a line of bare maples outside Auburn. Charles owned it through a company that called itself Baldwin Agricultural Storage, though it had never stored a single bushel of grain.Detective Bell found the black sedan in a locked hangar.“It belongs to Northstar Transit,” he told Victoria.“The shell company Lucas found.”“The license plates were switched.”Samantha stood beside them in the cold. “What’s inside?”Bell opened the trunk. It held a garment bag, two burner phones, and a cardboard box of shipping invoices.No red coat.No brake parts.No weapon.Victoria felt frustration rise. “It’s empty.”“Empty things can still be useful,” Bell said.One burner phone contained a series of texts sent to a contact saved as C.B.MOVE THE ORIGINAL.THE WIFE IS ASKING QUESTIONS.NO WITNESS.The last message had been sent at 7:42 p.m. the night Lucas died.“Who is ‘the wife’?” Victoria asked.Samantha’s gaze moved to her. “It could mean you.”“Or Courtney.”“Courtney was Charles’s wife.”“So was I, until Lucas died.”Bell looked at the phone. “I’m having the messages analyzed.”Back at Baldwin-Gallagher Logistics, employees watched Victoria enter as if she were a ghost.The company occupied a six-story brick building near the rail yards. Lucas had taken her there only twice. He always said work and home needed separate walls.Priya Shah, the chief financial officer, met them in the lobby.“Victoria,” she said, hugging her carefully. “I’m sorry about the baby.”“He’s stable.”“And you?”“Not stable.”Priya gave a humorless smile. “That makes two of us.”Samantha said, “We need the internal payment records.”“Charles locked the finance system.”“You’re the CFO.”“I was. He suspended me this morning.”“Why?”“Because I asked him where seven million dollars went.”Victoria studied her. “Lucas trusted you?”“He trusted numbers. I gave him numbers.”Priya led them upstairs through a corridor lined with framed photographs of trucks, warehouses, and smiling Baldwin men. Charles appeared in almost every image. Lucas appeared in none.“He hated being photographed,” Victoria said.“He hated being used as a prop,” Priya replied.In the finance office, Priya opened a metal cabinet.“Charles removed the original ledgers.”“Lucas had one,” Victoria said.“Then he was ahead of us.”Priya handed Samantha a file. “I kept copies of the payment summaries. The money moved through Northstar to a company called Lantern Ridge.”Victoria recognized the name. “That was on the ledger.”“Lantern Ridge was created three months before Lucas’s crash.”“Who owns it?”Priya hesitated.“Tell us,” Samantha said.“The registered agent is a woman named Courtney Baldwin.”Victoria felt a hollow opening beneath her ribs.“Courtney owns Lantern Ridge?”“On paper.”“How much money went there?”“Six million, eight hundred thousand.”“Why would Charles put it in her name?”Priya lowered her voice. “Because if he went down, she could claim she was the innocent spouse.”Victoria looked toward the window. “She’s not innocent.”“Maybe not,” Priya said. “But she may not be the architect.”A security guard rushed into the room.“Ms. Shah, the board is meeting in fifteen minutes.”“What board?”“Emergency directors’ meeting. Mr. Baldwin called it.”Samantha checked her watch. “He’s trying to remove Victoria’s voting rights.”“Can he?” Victoria asked.“Not if the fraud clause is valid.”“What if he says the signature is real?”“Then we make the court decide before the board votes.”They reached the boardroom as Charles was taking his seat.Five directors sat around the table. Two avoided Victoria’s eyes.Charles smiled. “This meeting is for the company’s protection.”Victoria took the empty chair at the end.“You’re not a director,” Charles said.“Lucas’s shares say otherwise.”“Those shares are disputed.”Samantha placed a court order on the table. “The voting rights are temporarily preserved.”Charles’s smile vanished.Priya connected a laptop to the screen. “Before anyone votes, they should see the payment records.”The screen filled with transfers.One director whispered, “Charles.”Charles rose. “This is a manufactured attack.”Victoria stood. “Then explain why six million dollars went to a company controlled by Courtney.”The door opened.Courtney walked in wearing a black coat and no makeup. She looked younger than twenty-four and older than the house where Victoria had found her.“Because I didn’t control it,” Courtney said.Charles turned. “What are you doing here?”Courtney held up a flash drive.“I brought the records that prove you used my name.”She looked directly at Victoria.“And I brought the file showing who actually ordered Lucas’s brakes cut.”
