Chapter 13 - Charles Vale
This time, the answer was not resurrection.
Charles Vale was dead.
Verified through DNA from preserved medical samples and exhumation after investigators obtained authorization.
The man in the video had deliberately manipulated Thomas.
He wanted Thomas to believe Charles might be alive.
Why?
Fear.
The same weapon Thomas used on everyone else.
Voice analysis eventually identified the hidden speaker.
Not Charles.
Not Daniel.
Not Jonathan from some other impossible branch.
Peter Sloan.
The dentist whose forged signature had been used to identify Michael's body as Robert.
Except Peter Sloan himself denied signing the dental report.
So why was his voice on Thomas's call?
Because Sloan had been involved elsewhere.
He had served on Ardent's board.
Thomas paid him for years.
Sloan claimed the dental forgery was created using his old signature without permission.
That was technically true.
But he knew about the false burial afterward.
Instead of exposing it, he blackmailed Thomas.
Thomas paid.
Sloan gradually gained access to Hale Meridian secrets.
Then began manipulating Thomas into moving money and evidence.
He wanted control of Ardent.
Why?
Sloan's wife had been one of the original behavioral researchers.
She died eight years earlier.
Sloan believed Thomas had stolen her work.
Parts of that claim were legitimate.
His response was not.
He extorted Thomas.
Manipulated records.
Threatened witnesses.
And after Robert survived the crash, Sloan advised Thomas to keep Robert hidden until access codes were recovered.
He did not cause the crash.
He did help turn an accident into a kidnapping and cover-up.
Then Sloan made a catastrophic mistake.
He assumed Thomas still controlled the Ardent archives.
He went there personally.
Police arrested him.
No dramatic shootout.
No escape.
A frightened seventy-year-old dentist sitting in an archive room surrounded by boxes.
Sometimes evil looked disappointingly ordinary.
Sloan cooperated partially.
He admitted advising Thomas.
Denied involvement in Michael's death.
Evidence suggested Michael received sedatives from a Thomas-controlled security contractor.
Who administered them remained under investigation.
Sloan then revealed Thomas's location.
A private airfield.
Thomas was arrested before boarding a charter aircraft.
Laura did not attend.
She stayed with Ethan.
That mattered more.
When Thomas was brought back, he requested to speak with Robert.
Robert refused.
Then Thomas requested Laura.
She refused too.
He finally sent a letter.
Laura gave it to investigators unopened.
She was done allowing Thomas to decide when she had to listen.
Months passed.
Charges accumulated across multiple matters.
The pool assault.
Unlawful restraint.
Financial fraud allegations.
Robert's confinement.
Evidence tampering.
Michael's death remained a separate investigation because prosecutors refused to call something murder without proof.
Laura appreciated that.
Truth did not need exaggeration.
Vanessa eventually entered a plea related to Ethan's assault and her participation in financial/document schemes.
Her cooperation mattered at sentencing.
So did the severity of what she had done.
She did not walk away because she had suffered too.
Thomas faced far more.
Sloan faced his own case.
Margaret cooperated and faced civil and possible criminal exposure for trust misconduct.
Helen's actions were investigated.
Daniel stepped down temporarily while Hale Meridian underwent forensic review.
Eleanor filed claims restoring Vale ownership rights.
Caroline refused management authority.
Rachel Monroe, no longer Laura's attorney, recused herself from any role that conflicted with her family interest.
For once, boundaries appeared.
Then Robert came home.
Not permanently at first.
He needed rehabilitation.
Memory remained uneven.
Ethan met him privately.
Laura worried for days.
When Robert entered the room, Ethan stared.
“Daddy?”
Robert cried.
“Yes.”
“You died.”
“I know.”
“That was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“Did you choose it?”
Robert swallowed.
“Not at first.”
Ethan considered.
“Did you choose not to come home?”
“For a while.”
“Why?”
“I was scared.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Mom was scared too.”
Robert lowered his head.
“I know.”
Ethan did not run into his arms.
He sat.
Then asked:
“Do you still know Yellow Submarine?”
Robert laughed through tears.
“Badly.”
“Okay.”
That was where they started.
Not forgiveness.
A song.
Later, Robert gave Laura access to the last encrypted Hale Meridian archive.
One folder remained.
Named:
LHB.
Laura Hale Bennett.
Inside was a legal opinion Robert commissioned before his crash.
It concluded Laura's Vale ancestry could give her substantial voting rights.
Robert knew.
“You knew I was related to them?”
“For three weeks.”
“And didn't tell me.”
“I was going to.”
Laura stared.
Robert corrected himself.
“No. That's an excuse.”
Good.
Then:
“I was afraid you'd think I married you because of it.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
DNA and timeline supported that Robert could not have known when they met.
Laura believed him.
Then she opened the final attachment.
A handwritten note from Charles Vale.
Addressed to:
ANNE'S GRANDDAUGHTER.
Laura.
Charles knew Anne had descendants.
He had known for decades.
The trust clause was not an oversight.
He intentionally preserved Anne's line.
Why?
His letter said:
Because I took something from my sister that money cannot return.
Laura frowned.
What had Charles taken from Anne?
May you like
The next page answered.
A child.
