Chapter 13 - THE MAN WHO KEPT THE RECEIPT
Finding Martin Vale became urgent.
Detective Ortiz traced his financial activity with warrants and subpoenas. A debit card connected to him had been used at a motel near the northern coast during Wendy’s trip.
The location was less than twenty miles from Wendy’s hotel.
The private investigator hired by Bellweather Outreach had not merely followed Wendy.
He may have been looking for Vale.
Motel footage showed a man resembling Martin checking in under another name. Two days later, Richard’s driver entered the lobby. Vale left through a rear exit before the driver reached his room.
Vale had been running from Richard.
He might also have been selling information to him.
The distinction mattered.
Wendy received a call from an unknown number on Sunday evening.
The voice belonged to a man.
“You opened the box too soon.”
“Martin?”
“Do not say my name.”
“Where are you?”
“Schedule B is not protection without the sealed memorandum.”
“Do you have it?”
“I have what remains.”
Wendy signaled to Amelia, who was beside her. They had already agreed that any contact from Vale would be documented and immediately reported.
“Why did you sell the photograph to Richard?”
“I needed him to believe I was useful.”
“You took seventy-five thousand dollars.”
“I needed money to disappear.”
“You entered my grandmother’s bank box using a forged authorization.”
“I entered because the wrong people were searching for the key.”
“You could have contacted me.”
“I did.”
“When?”
“The alerts you found on the northern coast did not come from your bank’s ordinary monitoring.”
Wendy looked at Amelia.
Vale continued.
“I triggered them by changing the vendor classification on two transactions. I needed you to look before Monday.”
“You knew about the wedding?”
“I knew Richard wanted witnesses in the garden.”
“Where is Lucía’s receipt?”
Silence.
Then Vale said, “Ask Gregory why the wedding arch had to stand beside the jacaranda.”
The call ended.
Detective Ortiz could not immediately trace the source. The number had been routed through an internet service. Vale had offered information but no location.
Wendy returned to the garden with a landscape contractor and the court-appointed fiduciary’s representative. They were careful not to disturb potential evidence without documentation.
The wedding arch had been anchored with four metal stakes. One stake pierced an old irrigation conduit beneath the jacaranda.
Inside the conduit was a rusted cylindrical container.
It had been empty when found, but the interior contained fragments of paper and red wax. Laboratory examination might recover fibers or impressions, though water damage limited expectations.
Gregory agreed to another interview with Detective Ortiz in the presence of counsel. He admitted Richard selected the arch location.
“My father said it was where Lucía and Arthur signed the original agreement.”
“Did you know something was buried there?” Wendy asked during a later attorney-controlled exchange.
“No.”
“Did you see Martin Vale take anything?”
“No.”
“Why did you have soil on your feet?”
Gregory rubbed both hands across his face.
“The night after the garden, my father told me to retrieve a container near the tree. I found the document sleeve and key before he did. I took the papers out.”
“What papers?”
“A copy of Schedule B and a bank card with Lucía’s name.”
“Where did you put them?”
“I gave the copy to my mother. I buried the empty sleeve and key again.”
“Why?”
“I thought if my father couldn’t open the box, he couldn’t finish the transfer.”
“You still helped him prepare the transfer.”
“I was trying to stop the part that would destroy the house.”
“You don’t receive credit for choosing which part of the fraud was too cruel.”
Gregory looked at her.
“No. I don’t.”
Celeste admitted receiving the copied Schedule B. She said Richard later took it. She had no bank card.
Richard refused further interviews.
His finance director, however, began cooperating after investigators confronted him with shell-company records. He stated that Richard had directed him to classify payments from Reyes Strategy Group as consulting revenue. He also confirmed Alder Crest was days from default when the wedding occurred.
The finance director did not know whether Richard ordered forged trust documents.
But he had seen Richard meet with Martin Vale.
During one meeting, Vale handed Richard a sealed envelope stamped with red wax.
The same kind of wax found inside the jacaranda container.
The next day, Richard’s attorney requested a private meeting with Amelia.
Richard was willing to surrender the original 1987 note and withdraw Alder Crest’s claim against the Oakhill property.
In return, Wendy had to agree not to oppose a negotiated resolution of potential charges involving the company transfers.
“You cannot negotiate criminal charges away,” Amelia told his attorney.
“We understand. She can communicate her position as the alleged victim.”
“And what does Richard want hidden?”
His attorney’s expression did not change.
“He wants to protect his family.”
Wendy rejected the proposal.
That night, a courier delivered a package to the Oakhill house.
Inside was the original 1987 note.
It carried a stamped notation:
PAID IN FULL.
Attached was a handwritten receipt signed by Arthur Vance.
The witness signature belonged to Elena Marín.
The receipt should have ended Richard’s claim.
May you like
But the date created a new problem.
It was signed nine months after Richard claimed Elena Marín had disappeared.
