Chapter 6 - THE ORIGINAL TARGETThe police found Allison two days later.
Not hiding in another state.
Living twenty miles away under the name Allison Grace.
She agreed to meet me.
Rachel attended.
So did a detective.
Allison looked nothing like I imagined.
No glamorous villain.
No unstable ex-wife.
Just a forty-year-old woman who looked exhausted.
I placed the forged transfer in front of her.
“That’s your signature.”
“Yes.”
“You witnessed mine.”
“No.”
“Then why sign?”
She closed her eyes.
“Harold told me you had already agreed.”
“I had never met you.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew Daniel was dating me.”
“Yes.”
“Before I knew him?”
Allison nodded.
My chest tightened.
“Was I selected?”
“Yes.”
There it was.
Daniel had not fallen into my life.
I had been identified.
My father’s note made me useful.
Allison continued:
“Harold needed someone close to you.”
“Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped?”
“At first.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted out.”
“Out of what?”
“My marriage. The Bennetts. Everything.”
Harold promised to finalize her divorce and release eleven percent of Bennett shares if she helped convince Daniel to pursue me.
I laughed bitterly.
“So my romance was a corporate assignment.”
Allison’s eyes filled.
“At the beginning.”
I hated that phrase.
Vanessa had said similar things in other lives I had read about.
People always wanted the beginning to excuse the middle.
“What changed?”
“Daniel fell in love with you.”
I looked away.
“Don’t.”
“I’m not defending him.”
“Good.”
“He started resisting Harold.”
“When?”
“After your father confronted him.”
That surprised me.
Allison continued:
“Thomas made Daniel understand you were a person, not a rescue plan.”
“What a heroic discovery.”
She accepted the sarcasm.
“Daniel told Harold he wanted to abandon the transfer.”
“Then why did he forge the prenup?”
“Because the company was three days from default.”
I shook my head.
Choice after choice.
Love had not stopped him when the cost became real.
Then I asked:
“Why did you meet my father the night before he died?”
Allison’s face changed.
“Because I was warning him.”
“About what?”
“Harold.”
“Did you know Harold planned to hurt him?”
“No.”
“Did you know about his medication?”
“No.”
“Prove it.”
She reached into her bag.
A recorder.
Old.
She pressed play.
My father’s voice.
“You should go to the police.”
Allison:
“With what? Harold owns half the paper trail.”
Dad:
“Then give me the other half.”
Harold entered later.
His voice appeared.
“Thomas, you’re making this unnecessarily personal.”
Dad:
“My daughter is personal.”
Harold:
“The company employs thousands.”
Dad:
“Then Daniel can file bankruptcy without stealing Claire’s inheritance.”
Silence.
Harold:
“You should be careful. Stress isn’t good for your heart.”
My blood froze.
Dad:
“Was that a threat?”
Harold laughed.
“No.”
Allison stopped the recording.
“I left shortly after.”
“What happened after?”
“I don’t know.”
The detective took the device.
Then Allison added:
“But Harold called someone before I left.”
“Who?”
“I only heard one name.”
“What?”
“Margaret.”
I stared.
My mother-in-law had just told me she did not know what Harold planned.
Allison looked at me.
“She knew your father was in danger.”
May you like
And according to the phone records police obtained hours later, Harold Finch called Margaret Bennett three times the night before my father died.
The third call lasted twenty-seven minutes.
