Chapter 7 - The Fourth Name
Ronan opened nothing.
Instead he searched Michael Carter’s records.
Michael wasn't dead.
Credit card used two months earlier in Vermont.
Then no activity.
Could be stolen.
A motel clerk remembered him.
He checked in under own name.
Left next morning with woman.
Description:
Blonde.
Around fifty.
Not Vivienne.
Not Ivy.
Ronan’s mother?
Eleanor Blackwood had died three years earlier.
No.
Could be Ronan’s aunt.
But avoid family sprawl.
Name found through camera:
Dr. Helen Royce.
Former Blackwood pension trustee.
She had resigned fifteen years earlier after accusing Graham Hale of suppressing employee-benefit calculations.
There.
Michael sought original trustee.
Helen alive.
Why disappear together?
To verify chest records independently.
Then Lena received message.
From her father.
One line:
DO NOT LET THEM OPEN IT UNTIL YOU FIND THE FOURTH NAME.
Fourth name?
There were three key holders.
But original trust charter referenced four-party oversight.
Blackwood principal.
Employee custodian.
Outside counsel.
Independent beneficiary trustee.
Helen Royce.
Fourth.
Her signature required to authenticate beneficial register, even though no physical key.
Without, documents could be challenged.
Then Ronan called number.
Michael answered.
Lena burst into tears.
“Dad?”
He was alive.
Safe.
Why no contact?
He had discovered someone monitoring family.
He feared Lena used as leverage.
He went quiet voluntarily.
Not ideal.
Then Michael warned:
“Ronan, the chest is real, but the top ledger isn't.”
“What?”
“There are two ownership registers.”
One created by Alexander.
One older by Alexander’s father.
Which authentic?
Both.
At different dates.
Employee interests changed.
If someone showed only older one, claims huge.
If only newer, claims small.
Truth requires transaction schedule between.
Where?
Not chest.
Graham removed.
Why?
Because transaction schedule could show whether reductions were legitimate purchases or coerced transfers.
Vivienne looked uncomfortable.
“Did your father have it?”
She knew.
Her father kept copy.
Where?
“Destroyed.”
Michael said:
“No.”
Graham gave it to someone before death.
Who?
Vivienne insisted she didn't know.
Then Michael:
“He gave it to Ivy.”
Ronan looked at maid.
Ivy’s face tightened.
“I never got it.”
Michael disagreed.
“I watched him hand you an envelope.”
Ivy remembered.
At funeral reception, Graham gave her sealed letter addressed Marian Mercer.
She never opened because mother dead and she assumed sentimental papers.
Where now?
Her small apartment at manor.
They retrieved envelope.
Inside:
transaction schedule.
And one handwritten note from Graham:
MARIAN WAS RIGHT.
I WAS WRONG.
May you like
DO NOT LET VIVIENNE TURN THIS INTO REVENGE.
Vivienne’s face emptied.
