Chapter 8 - THE DIRECTOR WHO LOOKED AWAY
The missing memory card turned the boardroom victory into another
emergency.
Julian ordered the conference room sealed. The investigators searched
the table, chairs, waste bins, and the hallway outside. Nothing
appeared.
“Who sat closest to the ledger?” Claire asked.
Malcolm checked the seating chart.
“Peter Lang. He’s been on the board for sixteen years.”
Julian’s expression darkened.
“Peter handled the original accident review.”
Claire looked at him.
“You never mentioned that.”
“He was the director assigned to oversee the investigation. He assured
me the report was complete.”
“Was he close to Andrew?”
“Not personally.”
The investigators brought Peter back into the room. He was sixty-two,
with silver hair and a soft voice. He looked genuinely offended when
asked whether he had taken the memory card.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Claire watched his face.
He was not angry.
He was afraid.
“Mr. Lang,” she said, “you looked at the table when Gabriel walked past.
You also moved your hand beneath the folder.”
Peter turned toward her.
“You are a temporary employee. You should not be questioning directors.”
Julian answered before she could.
“She saved my life. She has more right to ask questions than you have to
hide.”
Peter’s eyes flicked toward the door.
An investigator asked him to empty his pockets.
He refused.
The officers explained that they had authority to secure evidence
connected to an attempted murder investigation. Peter finally placed a
small black card on the table.
“I took it because I was protecting the company.”
“From what?” Julian asked.
“From scandal.”
Peter’s voice broke.
“Your father knew about the brake problem. He knew Andrew had reported
it. He ordered the repair delayed because the vehicle was needed for an
overseas trip. When the crash happened, he panicked. He told us to make
sure the company wasn’t exposed.”
Julian stared at him.
“My father knew?”
Peter nodded.
“And you helped cover it up?”
“I signed the report. I thought it would protect the family.”
“It destroyed Andrew’s name.”
Peter lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
Claire felt anger rise so quickly that she had to grip the back of a
chair.
“You let people believe my brother was careless. You let his family
believe he had made a fatal mistake.”
Peter looked at her.
“I am sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t return twenty-six months.”
He had no answer.
The memory card was returned to the investigators. It contained a second
recording from the night before the crash. Andrew had confronted Gabriel
about the faulty brake line.
Gabriel’s voice was clear.
“You don’t understand who you’re challenging.”
Andrew replied, “I understand exactly. That’s why I copied everything.”
Then a third voice entered.
Richard Vescari, Julian’s father.
“Get rid of the report. The car leaves tomorrow.”
Julian closed his eyes.
The truth was worse than he had imagined. His father had known the
vehicle was unsafe. Gabriel had altered the system. Peter had helped
bury the evidence. Andrew had died trying to stop them.
But one question remained.
Why had Victoria joined them years later?
Julian looked at the investigators.
“Find out when she became involved.”
Claire looked at the lake through the conference room window.
Andrew’s message had warned her not to trust the man who said he saved
Julian.
She had assumed it meant Gabriel.
May you like
Now she understood that the warning reached further back.
The entire family had built its fortune on secrets.
