CHAPTER 5 — THE DEAD MAN'S LAST INVESTIGATION
CHAPTER 5 — THE DEAD MAN'S LAST INVESTIGATION
The words echoed through the quiet mountain clinic like the first crack of thunder before a storm.
"Tell Anna..."
"...her grandfather didn't die of natural causes."
Victor Hayes coughed violently, his frail body trembling from years of medication and isolation.
The nurse looked at him in disbelief.
"Mr. Hayes, are you certain?"
He closed his eyes.
"I've been certain for five years."
Less than three hours later, a helicopter landed on the clinic's snow-covered helipad.
Anna stepped out first.
Claire Bennett followed, accompanied by two private security officers and a retired federal prosecutor whom Elias Vale had trusted for decades.
Victor stared at Anna for a long moment.
Then tears filled his tired eyes.
"You have your grandfather's face."
Anna knelt beside his bed.
"I need the truth."
Victor nodded slowly.
"You deserve all of it."
Five years earlier...
Victor Hayes had discovered millions of dollars disappearing from Hawthorne Development through fake infrastructure contracts.
At first, he believed it was ordinary corporate fraud.
He was wrong.
The missing money wasn't being stolen for luxury cars or vacation homes.
It was funding an international money-laundering network tied to organized crime.
Every trail eventually pointed toward one man.
Richard Ashcroft.
"But Ashcroft never signed anything himself," Victor explained.
"He built layers of executives beneath him."
"Each one believed he was stealing a little."
"In reality, they were protecting a much larger operation."
Anna whispered,
"And Daniel?"
Victor sighed.
"Daniel was ambitious."
"He wanted fast promotions."
"Ashcroft offered them."
"He never realized he was becoming the perfect scapegoat."
Anna remained silent.
She no longer hated Daniel.
She pitied the fool he had chosen to become.
Victor reached toward the bedside table.
Claire opened a small metal lockbox.
Inside were three flash drives...
A handwritten journal...
And an old fountain pen.
Anna frowned.
"The pen?"
Victor smiled weakly.
"Elias loved puzzles."
Claire twisted the pen apart.
A tiny memory card slid into her palm.
Anna looked stunned.
"My grandfather hid evidence inside a pen?"
Victor laughed softly.
"He trusted no one."
Back at Vale Manor...
The files were decrypted inside Elias's private security room.
Video after video appeared on the screens.
Hidden meetings.
Secret bank transfers.
Offshore account numbers.
Private recordings.
Then one particular video began.
The date:
Three weeks before Elias Vale's death.
Elias sat alone in his study.
He looked directly into the hidden camera.
"If you're watching this..."
"...I have already been killed."
Anna gasped.
"No..."
Elias continued calmly.
"My doctors will call it heart failure."
"They're lying."
Claire covered her mouth.
The room fell completely silent.
"I've discovered evidence connecting Richard Ashcroft to financial crimes, witness disappearances, and at least four suspicious deaths."
He paused.
"If anything happens to me..."
"Never negotiate."
"Expose everyone."
Anna's hands shook.
She had attended her grandfather's funeral believing fate had taken him.
Now she knew someone had stolen him.
Meanwhile...
Richard Ashcroft watched the evening news from his penthouse.
Every major network carried the same headline.
Former CEO Victor Hayes Found Alive.
His face turned pale.
His chief of security entered hurriedly.
"Sir..."
"The authorities are requesting financial records."
Ashcroft remained calm.
"Destroy everything."
"We've already started."
"No."
Ashcroft's voice hardened.
"Everything."
Before the man could leave...
The office lights suddenly went dark.
Every computer screen switched off.
Then one by one...
They restarted.
A single message appeared on every monitor.
YOU ARE TOO LATE.
Ashcroft froze.
"What is this?"
His IT director called immediately.
"Sir!"
"Our servers have been copied!"
"Every financial record..."
"Every deleted email..."
"Someone accessed everything."
Ashcroft whispered,
"...Who?"
The reply came seconds later.
"They're using Elias Vale's emergency protocol."
Anna looked toward Claire.
"My grandfather planned this?"
Claire nodded.
"Three years ago."
"Elias hired cybersecurity experts from three different countries."
"He believed someone would eventually try to erase the evidence."
Anna almost smiled.
Even in death...
Her grandfather had anticipated every move.
That same night...
Federal agents raided Hawthorne headquarters.
Accounting offices.
Executive suites.
Private vaults.
Employees watched in disbelief as investigators carried out dozens of sealed evidence boxes.
Television helicopters circled overhead.
The empire Ashcroft had spent twenty years building was collapsing before sunrise.
But Ashcroft wasn't finished.
Inside a hidden warehouse on the outskirts of the city, he met with three men.
"They found Victor."
One of the men nodded grimly.
"What about the granddaughter?"
Ashcroft's expression turned cold.
"She inherited Elias's money."
A pause.
"But she also inherited his courage."
Another silence.
Then he gave the order no one wanted to hear.
"Bring me the child."
The room went still.
One man hesitated.
"A baby?"
Ashcroft's eyes became ice.
May you like
"As long as Lily lives..."
"...Anna will never stop fighting."
