The Day Charles Whitmore Fell
Chapter 16 - The Day Charles Whitmore Fell
The investigation lasted months.
Records were examined.
Witnesses were interviewed.
Company directors commissioned independent reviews.
And authorities began scrutinizing financial activities dating back to Gabriel's final months.
The process wasn't simple.
Some people remembered events differently.
Some documents had been lost.
Some witnesses had died.
But a body of evidence gradually emerged concerning suspicious transfers, false representations, and efforts to conceal material information.
Charles continued denying criminal wrongdoing.
Then Andrew provided additional records from the company's archives.
Those documents became central to the investigation.
The company's board ultimately removed Charles from his executive position pending the outcome of proceedings.
I watched the news from Catherine's living room.
The television showed Charles leaving the headquarters beneath a crowd of reporters.
He looked older.
Smaller.
For years, he'd controlled the Whitmore empire.
Now he couldn't control the questions being shouted at him.
Catherine turned off the television.
I looked at her.
"Are you okay?"
She thought for a moment.
"I'm sad."
I nodded.
"Me too."
She smiled faintly.
"Not for Charles. For the family we might have been."
I understood.
Gabriel should have grown old.
Catherine should have watched me graduate.
Eleanor should have celebrated birthdays with us.
Andrew and I should have known each other as cousins.
Instead, we'd spent years divided by secrets.
I looked at my mother.
"We can't change that."
"No."
"But we can decide what comes next."
She took my hand.
May you like
"Yes, sweetheart. We can."
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