Chapter 8 - Margaret Vale
Margaret Vale appeared from behind a row of trees.
She walked with a cane.
Not because she needed help.
Because one knee had been reconstructed after the crash.
She was seventy-three.
Her eyes remained sharp.
Lisa immediately understood why Evelyn had gone pale.
Margaret looked like someone who remembered every debt.
“Lisa Bennett.”
“Lisa Reed.”
Margaret nodded.
“Good.”
“You’ve already started correcting things.”
Lisa folded her arms.
“You broke into my office.”
“I borrowed evidence.”
“You stole a drive.”
“I returned the contents.”
“You left the empty shell.”
Margaret’s mouth almost smiled.
Michael stepped between them.
“Margaret.”
“No.”
Lisa said.
“I want answers.”
Margaret looked at her.
“Fair.”
She explained.
Thomas Bennett and several military finance officers created the original network during overseas deployments.
They diverted emergency relief funds.
Then survivor-support funds.
At first, small amounts.
Later, millions.
When soldiers died, their unused administrative profiles became tools.
Ghost identities.
Evelyn discovered the operation through Thomas.
Margaret initially believed Evelyn wanted to help expose him.
“She didn’t?”
Margaret shook her head.
“She wanted control.”
Evelyn understood that a hidden network was more valuable than one exposed.
She began keeping records.
Blackmail.
Accounts.
Names.
When Thomas realized she could destroy him, their marriage collapsed.
Then Margaret’s investigation closed in.
Thomas agreed to cooperate.
“He was going to testify?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did the helicopter crash?”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“Because Evelyn learned he was talking.”
Lisa stopped breathing.
Michael stared at Margaret.
“You never told me you proved that.”
“I didn’t.”
“Until recently.”
Margaret produced a photocopy of a maintenance authorization.
The helicopter’s fuel sensor had been deliberately disabled.
The order originated from a contractor account.
The contractor was owned through a shell company.
The beneficiary.
Evelyn Bennett.
Lisa felt cold.
“Evelyn tried to kill her own husband?”
Margaret answered.
“She tried to kill everyone who could expose her.”
“Thomas.”
“Me.”
“Michael.”
“Then she built a hero story around the dead.”
Lisa thought of Ryan.
He had grown up worshipping a father Evelyn may have murdered.
Margaret continued.
“The gala is her exit.”
“Exit from what?”
“The network.”
“She is selling the remaining identities.”
“Consolidating funds.”
“And leaving the country.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
Lisa looked at Michael.
“Then why lure you into my office?”
Margaret answered.
“I didn’t lure him.”
Michael’s face changed.
Margaret looked at him.
“You received a message using my code.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t send it.”
Everyone went silent.
Someone else knew Margaret’s old communication code.
Someone had wanted Michael at Lisa’s office.
May you like
Then Michael whispered.
“Ryan.”
