Chapter 6: The Account That Should Never Have Existed
Daniel followed Detective Brooks toward the small preparation room beside the chapel's main hall.
He didn't want to leave Lily, but Camille promised she wouldn't let their daughter out of her sight. Marcus remained beside them while the remaining guests were asked to stay seated until the officers finished gathering statements.
Vanessa stood near the altar, no longer looking like a bride.
Her veil had slipped backward. One sleeve of her gown was stained where she'd wiped her tears. She watched Daniel leave with the detective but made no attempt to follow.
Evelyn had been taken into a separate room under police supervision.
For the first time since the ceremony began, the chapel grew almost quiet.
Almost.
Behind Daniel, he could hear Lily asking Camille questions in a small, urgent voice.
"Are you staying tonight?""
Camille answered softly.
"Yes, baby.""
"And tomorrow?""
"Yes.""
"And the day after that?""
Daniel stopped walking.
He couldn't hear Camille's answer.
He couldn't bear to.
Detective Brooks opened the preparation-room door.
"Mr. Carter?""
Daniel forced himself to move.
Inside, a long table stood beneath bright ceiling lights. A laptop rested beside a stack of printed documents. One of the officers closed the door behind them, leaving the room quiet enough that Daniel could hear the air vent humming overhead.
Detective Brooks gestured toward a chair.
"Please sit down.""
"I'd rather stand.""
She nodded.
"All right.""
She opened the folder.
"Two months after Camille disappeared, a bank account was opened under your name. The account was registered to a business called Carter Family Consulting.""
Daniel frowned.
"I don't own a consulting company.""
"We verified that.""
"Then how was it opened?""
"Someone used your identification documents, your Social Security number, and a forged signature.""
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
"I reported my wallet missing around that time.""
Detective Brooks looked up.
"When?""
"About three weeks after Camille disappeared. I thought I'd lost it at the courthouse when I filed some paperwork.""
"Did it contain your driver's license?""
"Yes.""
"Bank cards?""
"Two.""
"Anything else?""
Daniel closed his eyes, searching his memory.
"A copy of my Social Security card. My business card. Some receipts.""
Detective Brooks wrote something down.
"Did you report the missing wallet to the police?""
"I did. I was told there was no evidence of theft.""
The detective nodded.
"That report is in the file.""
Daniel stared at the documents.
"How much money went through this account?""
She turned the laptop toward him.
A list of deposits and withdrawals filled the screen.
Daniel's stomach tightened.
The first deposit was $18,500.
The next was $42,000.
Then $76,200.
The amounts continued for months, sometimes several transactions a week. Money moved from the account into companies with unfamiliar names, then disappeared into other accounts.
The total exceeded $1.8 million.
Daniel stared at the figure.
"That's impossible.""
"The account remained active for eleven months," Detective Brooks said.
"Then the money stopped moving.""
"Where did it go?""
"We're still tracing the transfers.""
He pointed at a company name.
"Northbridge Holdings. I've never heard of that.""
"We're investigating it.""
"What about the other accounts?""
"Several were registered under different names. Some appear to be shell companies.""
Daniel looked up.
"And my mother?""
"Her foundation received money from two of the companies.""
"So she was involved.""
"That's one possibility. We haven't established the full extent of her involvement.""
Daniel paced to the opposite wall.
"Camille discovered the fraud. She disappeared. Someone stole my identity.
Money was moved through an account in my name. And you're telling me we don't know who did it?""
Detective Brooks let him finish.
Then she placed another document on the table.
"This is the application used to open the account.""
Daniel turned back.
The page contained his personal information, a mailing address, and a signature.
The address belonged to a commercial office building downtown.
He recognized it.
"That's the old Carter Construction office.""
"Your father's business?""
"Yes. I sold the building after he died. The new owner converted the upper floors into offices.""
Detective Brooks nodded.
"According to the application, you visited the bank in person to open the account.""
"I never went to that bank.""
"There's a signature on the application confirming your identity.""
"Then show me the photograph.""
She hesitated.
"What photograph?""
"The security camera footage. Every bank has cameras. If somebody opened an account in person, there should be a photograph.""
Detective Brooks exchanged a glance with the officer beside the door.
"We obtained the footage.""
"And?""
"The person who opened the account was wearing a baseball cap and glasses.""
Daniel let out a frustrated breath.
"So you can't identify them.""
"Their face was partially obscured.""
He slapped the table.
"Then what's the point of showing me this?""
Detective Brooks remained composed.
"Because we enhanced the footage. We couldn't identify the person by their face, but we identified something else.""
She opened a second file.
A still image appeared on the laptop.
The person stood at the bank counter, holding a document. Their left hand rested on the edge of the desk.
A gold ring gleamed on the ring finger.
Daniel leaned closer.
He knew that ring.
A heavy gold band with a square black stone.
His father had worn it for nearly thirty years.
After his death, Evelyn had told Daniel that the ring had been buried with him.
Daniel stared at the screen.
"Where did you get that?""
Detective Brooks folded her hands.
"We believe the ring belonged to your father.""
"It did.""
"Who has it now?""
Daniel swallowed.
"My mother.""
The detective nodded.
"She told us she had kept several of your father's personal belongings.""
Daniel looked at the image again.
The hand on the screen was larger than Evelyn's. The fingers were thick, the knuckles broad.
"That isn't my mother's hand," he said.
"No.""
"Who is it?""
Detective Brooks opened another photograph.
It showed a man standing outside the bank on the day the account was opened. He wore a gray jacket and carried a leather briefcase.
The image was grainy, but Daniel could see the man's face.
He felt the room tilt.
"No.""
Detective Brooks watched him carefully.
"Do you recognize him?""
Daniel couldn't answer.
He had seen that face in family photographs, at birthday parties, at Christmas dinners, and in the framed picture Evelyn kept above her fireplace.
It was the face of a man who had supposedly died eleven years earlier.
His father.
Richard Carter.
Daniel gripped the edge of the table.
"That's impossible.""
Detective Brooks lowered her voice.
"Your father was declared dead in 2015 after a boating accident. His body was never recovered, but the insurance claim was approved after an extensive investigation.""
Daniel shook his head.
"I attended the memorial service.""
"You attended a memorial service. There was no body.""
"My mother identified his personal effects.""
"Yes.""
"His boat was found overturned.""
"Yes.""
Daniel stared at the photograph.
His father looked older than he remembered, with gray at his temples and deeper lines around his mouth. But the resemblance was unmistakable.
The man in the image was Richard Carter.
Alive.
Standing outside a bank.
Opening an account in Daniel's name two months after Camille vanished.
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"" Daniel whispered.
"Because we only obtained the image this morning.""
"Where is he now?""
"We don't know.""
Daniel's hands began to shake.
"My father is dead.""
Detective Brooks said nothing.
"He died eleven years ago.""
She slid the photograph closer.
"Mr. Carter, I need you to consider the possibility that the person who opened this account was your father.""
Daniel stared at the photograph until his eyes burned.
He remembered his father's funeral flowers. The pastor's prayer. His mother clutching his arm as relatives embraced them.
He remembered standing beside Lily's crib years later, whispering that his daughter would never have to grow up without a loving father.
Now every memory felt unstable.
If Richard had faked his death, then his mother had lied to him for eleven years.
If Richard had opened the account, then he might have been involved in the financial fraud Camille discovered.
And if Camille had known his father was alive, that could explain why she had disappeared.
Daniel lifted his head.
"Did Camille know?""
Detective Brooks paused.
"We found a message on her old phone that may be relevant.""
She opened a recovered text file.
The message had been sent three days before Camille disappeared.
There was no contact name, only a number that had since been disconnected.
The message read:
You were right about Richard. He never died.
Daniel felt his chest tighten.
A second message followed.
But if Daniel finds out who helped him, none of us will be safe.
Daniel stared at the words.
"Who helped him?""
Detective Brooks shook her head.
"We don't know yet.""
He looked toward the closed door.
Beyond it, his daughter was holding her mother for the first time in two years. His bride was hiding a history she had never fully confessed. His mother had threatened Camille with a gun.
And now his dead father had appeared in a photograph connected to a multimillion-dollar fraud.
Daniel looked back at the detective.
"I want to see my mother.""
"That may not be a good idea right now.""
"I don't care.""
She studied him for a moment, then nodded.
"We'll arrange it.""
Daniel turned toward the door.
Before he could reach it, the detective's phone rang.
She answered, listened for several seconds, and then went completely still.
"Are you certain?"" she asked.
A pause.
"Send me the photograph.""
She ended the call.
Daniel watched her face.
"What happened?""
Detective Brooks turned the phone toward him.
A fresh security photograph filled the screen.
It showed a man entering the private parking area behind the chapel less than ten minutes earlier.
He wore a charcoal suit and carried a black leather briefcase.
His face was older, his hair almost completely gray.
But Daniel recognized him instantly.
Richard Carter was standing outside the chapel.
May you like
And beneath the photograph was a message from the officer monitoring the entrance.
*SUBJECT REQUESTS TO SPEAK WITH HIS SON. ALONE.*
