The Woman Beside the Balance Sheet
Chapter 07 - The Woman Beside the Balance Sheet
Helena Cross had managed Ashford Medical’s finances for fifteen years.
She rarely raised her voice and never appeared in family photographs. Board members trusted her because every crisis seemed smaller after she converted it into numbers.
The affordable-pharmacy program had become her greatest problem.
The pharmacies earned modest profits but held valuable urban properties. Helena and Lucas planned to sell the network to Northbridge Capital, close half the locations and redevelop the land.
The private completion bonuses would exceed sixty million dollars.
Evelyn blocked the transaction.
She also discovered that Helena had transferred company money into consulting firms connected to Northbridge. The amounts were disguised as restructuring expenses.
Catherine found the evidence inside Evelyn’s legal archive.
Helena denied everything.
She explained the DNA beneath Evelyn’s nails by claiming the founder grabbed her wrist during an argument. She said Evelyn had become aggressive and paranoid in her final weeks.
The estate nurse’s logs contradicted her. Evelyn remained physically weak and had not left bed on the day Helena claimed the encounter occurred.
Security footage placed Helena in the family wing at 1:41 on the morning Evelyn died.
She left at 2:19.
Dr. Hale arrived at 1:48.
Lucas entered through the garden at 2:12.
Three people had been present before Catherine returned.
Helena attempted to resign and leave the country. Ortiz detained her at the airport with an unsigned Northbridge agreement in her luggage and two encrypted drives hidden inside cosmetic cases.
The drives revealed a financial conspiracy.
They also contained messages between Helena and Lucas discussing how to “complete the transition before the old woman changes the trust.”
One message from Helena read:
Hale says another episode will look natural. We need Catherine out of the room.
Lucas answered:
Handle the schedule. I will handle my wife.
The words did not prove he ordered murder.
They proved he knew an episode was being planned.
Catherine read the messages in the same library where Lucas once punched the wall beside her head.
May you like
She had spent months distinguishing the man he was from the man she hoped remained beneath the cruelty.
The messages ended that effort.
