Chapter 33 - Gathering Evidence
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While Maya painted, Marcus worked tirelessly to dismantle Arthur Pendelton’s legal strategy. His home office looked like a detective’s corkboard, covered in printed financial statements, highlight markers, and sticky notes connecting Richard Sterling’s various shell companies. Marcus had barely slept, fueled by black coffee and a relentless desire to protect our family.
On Tuesday morning, I walked into his office to find him staring intently at a scanned copy of a ten-year-old tax document on his computer monitor.
"Did you find something?" I asked, placing a fresh mug of coffee on his desk.
"I think I found the missing link," Marcus said, rubbing his tired eyes. He pointed to a small, nearly illegible signature at the bottom of the scanned page. "This is the original charter for the arts foundation. Pendelton claims that Richard Sterling maintained ownership of the trust, but look at the co-signer."
I leaned in, squinting at the faded ink. "Eleanor Vance? Who is that?"
"She was Richard’s original business partner, long before his empire became corrupt," Marcus explained, clicking rapidly through his digital files. "Eleanor provided the initial seed money for the foundation. According to the bylaws in this specific charter, if Richard was ever convicted of a felony, his shares in the trust automatically reverted entirely to Eleanor. It was a morality clause designed to protect the charity."
"So Richard doesn't own the foundation at all," I realized, a wave of immense relief washing over me. "It belongs to Eleanor."
"Exactly," Marcus nodded. "Pendelton knows this. He deliberately omitted Eleanor’s name from his injunction filing, hoping we wouldn't dig deep enough into the archives to find the original charter. He is committing perjury by claiming Richard is the sole owner."
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"Do we know where Eleanor is now?" I asked.
"She retired to a quiet estate in upstate New York five years ago," Marcus replied, grabbing his car keys from the desk. "I am going to drive up there today and get a sworn affidavit from her. Once we hand that to the judge, Pendelton is finished."
