Chapter 10 - The Ledger of Lies
The filing cabinet was locked, but Clara used a heavy paperweight from Graves's desk to smash the locking mechanism. She pulled the heavy steel drawer open.
Inside were dozens of red folders. She frantically flipped through them until she found a thick leather-bound ledger labeled Personal Expenditures - A.V.
Clara opened it, scanning the handwritten columns. It was a terrifying record of bribes, payoffs, and illegal transfers. But she wasn't looking for financial crimes. She flipped to the dates matching the week Eleanor Vance disappeared.
There it was.
Payment: $500,000 - Blackwood Sanatorium. Monthly recurring: $50,000 - Dr. H. Aris. Note: Patient E.V. - Permanent solitary confinement.
Clara gasped. Eleanor wasn't dead. The rug hadn't contained a corpse; it had contained an unconscious woman. Arthur hadn't killed his wife; he had institutionalized her under a false name, keeping her heavily sedated in a corrupt, private asylum to prevent her from exposing his crimes.
May you like
She shoved the ledger into her bag and turned to leave.
Standing in the doorway, blocking her exit, was Arthur Vance. He held a silver-plated revolver, pointing it directly at her chest.
