Chapter 6 - THE ACCOUNTANT'S CONFESSION
Richard Bellamy woke beneath fluorescent hospital lights with an oxygen tube beneath his nose and a terrible certainty in his chest.
Someone had tried to kill him.
He remembered drinking coffee.
He remembered opening a financial report.
He remembered the room beginning to spin.
Then nothing.
Now a federal investigator stood beside his bed.
“Mr. Bellamy?”
Richard turned his head.
Daniel Reeves held up his credentials.
“We need to talk.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Am I under arrest?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Then leave.”
Reeves pulled up a chair.
“Someone tried to poison you.”
Richard said nothing.
“We believe it may be connected to financial crimes at Moreau Holdings.”
Still nothing.
Reeves placed a photograph on the bedside table.
Julien.
Alive.
Richard stared at it.
His mouth fell open.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Julien?”
“He survived.”
Richard began shaking.
Tears filled his eyes.
“Oh, thank God.”
Reeves watched him carefully.
“You knew someone planned to kill him?”
Richard covered his face.
“I knew they were going to do something terrible.”
“Who?”
Richard looked toward the door.
“Are we alone?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
Reeves nodded.
Richard took a trembling breath.
“It started with Antoine.”
He explained that Antoine had approached him nearly two years earlier with a request to restructure several consulting payments.
The transactions appeared questionable.
Richard had refused.
Then Antoine produced photographs.
They showed Richard entering a hotel with a woman who was not his wife.
Richard's face crumpled.
“I made a mistake,” he whispered.
Reeves waited.
“An affair. Six months. I ended it. I thought it was over.”
“Antoine threatened to expose you?”
“Yes.”
“And you agreed to approve the payments?”
Richard nodded.
“At first, I thought it was just tax avoidance. Then I realized the companies were fake.”
“Why didn't you report it?”
“Because every month I waited, I became more involved.”
He looked at the ceiling.
“I kept telling myself I could fix it.”
Reeves leaned forward.
“Who poisoned you?”
“I don't know.”
“Who knew you were considering cooperating?”
Richard hesitated.
“Victor.”
“How?”
“I called him yesterday. I told him I was done.”
“What did he say?”
Richard's expression changed.
“He told me I should think about my family.”
Reeves made a note.
“Did he threaten them?”
“Not directly.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Richard swallowed.
“He said accidents happen to people who forget where their loyalties belong.”
The investigator remained silent.
Then Richard whispered, “There's something else.”
“What?”
“Julien wasn't the first person they planned to remove.”
Reeves looked up.
“Who was?”
Richard's eyes filled with tears.
“A woman named Olivia Grant.”
### The missing investigator
Olivia Grant had worked as an independent forensic accountant.
Six months earlier, Julien had hired her to examine irregularities in Moreau Holdings' maritime division.
She was meticulous.
Persistent.
And unusually good at identifying financial patterns that others missed.
Three weeks after accepting the assignment, she disappeared.
Her apartment had been found empty.
Her laptop was gone.
Her phone had last connected to a tower near the waterfront.
Police had initially considered the possibility that she had left voluntarily.
But Richard knew otherwise.
“She found the shell companies,” he told Reeves.
“Did she tell you?”
“Yes.”
“What happened next?”
“She asked me to meet her.”
“Did you?”
Richard shook his head.
“I was afraid.”
“Then?”
“Victor found out.”
“How?”
Richard looked away.
“I told him.”
Reeves stared at him.
“You told Victor that Olivia was investigating the fraud?”
Richard began crying.
“I thought he'd scare her. Make her stop.”
“What happened to her?”
“I don't know.”
Reeves stood.
“Mr. Bellamy, a woman disappeared because you gave dangerous people information about her.”
“I know.”
“And now you want protection.”
Richard looked at him desperately.
“I'll tell you everything.”
“Then start with the truth.”
Richard took a trembling breath.
“Olivia found something in the accounts. Something much bigger than the missing four million.”
Reeves stopped.
“What?”
Richard glanced toward the door.
“She discovered that Victor wasn't stealing money for himself.”
“Then who was he working for?”
Richard whispered a name.
Reeves went completely still.
### 4:16 p.m.
Julien listened as Reeves repeated Richard's statement.
The room seemed to grow colder.
“Are you certain?” Julien asked.
“Bellamy claims he saw correspondence.”
“Correspondence with whom?”
“Someone using the name Adrian Vale.”
Julien frowned.
“I don't know that name.”
“Neither do we. It may be an alias.”
“What did Olivia discover?”
Reeves opened a folder.
“According to Bellamy, the missing money was being used to finance a hostile acquisition of Moreau Holdings.”
Julien stared at him.
“Four million dollars couldn't buy my company.”
“No. But it could fund legal challenges, market manipulation, and a coordinated campaign to force a sale.”
Julien leaned back.
Victor had never intended merely to steal his fortune.
He wanted to destroy the company from within.
And someone else was financing the operation.
“Who is Adrian Vale?”
“We're investigating.”
Julien looked toward the window.
Then he remembered something.
A dinner.
Three months earlier.
Camille had invited a wealthy investor to the estate.
A man who introduced himself as Adrian.
He had been charming.
Quiet.
Interested in the maritime division.
Julien had disliked him immediately.
He turned toward Reeves.
“I've met him.”
“Where?”
“At my house.”
“Can you describe him?”
Julien nodded.
“Late fifties. Silver hair. Blue eyes. British accent.”
Reeves opened his laptop.
“Did he look like this?”
A photograph appeared.
Julien's breath caught.
“Yes.”
Reeves studied him.
“Do you know his real name?”
Julien shook his head.
The investigator turned the screen.
Beneath the photograph was an identification record.
The man was not Adrian Vale.
His real name was Charles Whitcomb.
A financier linked to multiple corporate fraud investigations.
May you like
And according to a newly uncovered communication, Whitcomb had sent Victor a message the morning before Julien boarded the yacht.
IF MOREAU SURVIVES, ELIMINATE THE ENTIRE FAMILY.
