Chapter 9 - My Name Was on Emily's List
The folder forced me to confront the possibility that my memory of the past was incomplete.
There were copies of supplier invoices.
Bank records.
Correspondence between Frank and Allan.
But next to my name were not accusations.
There were meeting dates.
Checks I'd signed.
Approvals I'd given.
I had unknowingly authorized transactions connected to Frank's scheme.
That was bad.
Then we found worse.
One document showed I had been warned.
A junior accountant named Melissa Crane sent me a memo questioning supplier invoices six weeks before Emily disappeared.
My handwritten response was at the bottom.
Frank handles procurement. Route future questions through him.
I remembered writing it.
I had dismissed a warning because I trusted my partner more than an employee.
Emily later found Melissa.
They compared records.
That was how my daughter discovered the scheme.
I had not participated knowingly.
But my arrogance helped it survive.
Thomas said something I needed to hear.
“Being deceived does not mean you made no mistakes.”
He was right.
Maisie asked why I looked sad.
“I found out your mom tried to tell me something a long time ago.”
“Did you listen?”
“No.”
She considered this.
“Why?”
“Because I thought I already knew the answer.”
Seven-year-olds understand pride better than businessmen.
Then the forensic accountant identified one of the unknown names.
Dennis Cole.
Former security contractor for Reed-Delaney Manufacturing.
I remembered him.
Frank hired him.
Dennis had been the person who followed Emily after she left the office the week before she disappeared.
And according to the green folder, Allan had paid him again thirteen years later.
Right around the time Veronica first found Emily.
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Someone had continued watching her long after Frank died.
The old conspiracy hadn't ended with the men who started it.
