Chapter 15 - The Unmasking
A pair of unmarked black utility vehicles and a sleek town car crunched down the narrow access road, parking directly bumper-to-bumper behind the news satellite trucks.
The vehicle doors opened in sync.
Out of the town car stepped Arthur Sterling, alongside Clara Gable and an elegant, silver-haired woman dressed in an exquisite charcoal wool coat: Mrs. Evelyn Vance-Montgomery, matriarch of one of the oldest philanthropic families in upstate New York.
Out of the unmarked law enforcement vehicles stepped four investigators from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Financial Protection Division, flanked by two uniformed State Police troopers.
The press corps scrambled to turn their cameras, sensing that the sensational story had just taken an earth-shattering turn.
Bradley Vance’s smug grin vanished instantly. He took a nervous half-step away from Vanessa, his hand dropping from her shoulder. “Evelyn? What are you doing here?”
“I am here to ensure that your little extortion racket finally comes to an end, Bradley,” Mrs. Montgomery announced in a clear, aristocratic voice that cut through the idling diesel engines. She walked directly up to the microphones, completely ignoring her distant second cousin.
She pointed a gloved hand directly at Vanessa.
“That woman is not Vanessa Mercer. Her legal birth name is Vanessa Marie Higgins. In 2018, using the alias Vanessa Sterling-Cross, she embedded herself into my family’s charitable foundation in Saratoga Springs. She targeted my late nephew, persuaded him to forge corporate resolutions against our family timber holdings, and vanished with one point six million dollars in foundation capital the week before our independent audit.”
Flashbulbs exploded in rapid, blinding succession. Reporters began shouting questions over one another:
“Mrs. Montgomery, are there active warrants?”
“Did she operate under multiple identities?”
“Mr. Vance, did you know your client had prior fraud indictments?”
Vanessa’s knees buckled. Her face drained of all color, leaving her heavy foundation looking like cracked porcelain. She backed away toward her rented car, her chest heaving with shallow, panicked breaths. “It’s a lie! She’s confusing me with someone else! Bradley, tell them! Tell them this is slander!”
Bradley Vance held both palms out in the air, backing away from her as if she had contracted the plague. “Ladies and gentlemen of the press, I must clarify immediately: my office was retained solely on the basis of representations made by Ms. Higgins regarding marital property. We had no prior knowledge of these historic allegations and we are formally withdrawing our representation effective immediately!”
“You coward!” Vanessa shrieked, lunging at him with her fingernails. “You drafted the extortion letter! You promised me we’d get three million out of that old woman!”
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Arthur Sterling stepped forward, unfolding a thick certified document bearing the crimson seal of the State Supreme Judicial Court.
“You won’t be getting three million, Vanessa,” Arthur stated with thunderous finality. “You won’t be getting three cents. What you will be getting is an immediate arraignment before Judge Holbrook on seven counts of felony wire fraud, identity theft, and grand larceny.”
