Renie looked stunned. “That was terribly risky, Ava. Why
didn’t you wait until you were back in town?”
Ava’s fingers twisted around the juice can. “I don’t know.
I felt compelled to act. Maybe I thought Frank would confess
and turn himself in and that would be that. In retrospect, it
was a very stupid thing to do.”
“You’re right.” Renie grew thoughtful. “I suppose Frank
originally intended to leave the files there with the body, but
realized he could use them against the others. That’s why
there were no entries for an entire year.”
“That’s right,” Judith agreed. “Those files took on a life of
their own. I suspect Frank planted them in Andrea’s room
after he killed her. Then Nadia stole them—or Frank did
later. Either way, they were meant to be found. Ward and
Leon’s vacancies on the board would have to be filled,
probably by Gene—and you.” Judith inclined her head at
Ava.
Ava gingerly touched the bruises on her neck. “So any dirt
about us could be used to coerce us into changing the bylaws. And Leon was killed because he knew how Frank had
bankrolled the company. But Ward…He was so loyal
to Frank. Surely he’d have gone along with Frank’s wishes
Judith offered Ava a sad little smile. “Maybe so. But Frank
had promised you Ward’s job. Ward had to go.”
In distress, Ava ran her fingers through her long black
hair. “That’s what I was afraid of. Everything suddenly
crashed in on me this afternoon. I couldn’t work for a murderer. And I felt guilty, too. You’re right—Ward’s blood is
on my hands.”
“You put your career ahead of justice,” Renie said quietly.
“I’m afraid it’s true—lives might have been saved if you’d
acted sooner.”
Ava dropped her hands into her lap. “It’s like tunnel vision
up there on the executive floor. They talk about career
pathing. It’s literal. You travel down that path and you never
look left or right. All you see is that title or that salary or
those perks at the end of the tunnel. Nothing else matters.
It’s horrible when you stop to think about it.”
A silence followed, as Ava wrestled with her special
demons. Renie finally spoke up, breaking the tension. “What
about Andrea? Why kill her?”
“Because,” Judith said, “she not only knew he’d fleeced
Mrs. Killegrew, but that Leon had been forced to juggle the
books. There was a missing page in her private files that
followed a discussion of an independent audit. I suspect that
page—which Frank destroyed—contained incriminating information about Frank’s financial dealings. He burned that
page—probably along with Leon’s own records—in Leon’s
room. He couldn’t do it right after he killed Leon in the kitchen because Andrea was waiting in Leon’s room. When we
