The Bakery on Jefferson Street
Chapter 10 - The Bakery on Jefferson Street
Emily's father had owned one small bakery.
Hart & Daughter.
It stood on Jefferson Street between a laundromat and an old hardware store.
After he died, Emily sold the building because the medical bills had left her with nothing.
At least, that was what she had believed.
Ryan arrived at the hotel with copies of property records.
The buyer had been a limited liability company.
That company was owned by another company.
And that company traced back to the Caldwell Foundation.
Emily felt physically sick.
"Why would your family's charity buy my father's bakery?"
Ryan shook his head.
"It didn't. Not officially. The purchase was hidden through shell companies."
Hannah leaned over the documents.
"Who signed the final transfer?"
Ryan pointed to the name.
Miles Bennett.
Emily drove to Jefferson Street before anyone could stop her.
The old bakery was gone.
In its place stood a luxury apartment building.
She parked across the street and remembered her father opening the shop at four every morning.
Her mother writing recipes at the back table.
Emily doing homework beside sacks of flour.
That building had been their entire life.
And somehow, it had become part of the same money trail that destroyed her wedding.
Ryan found her sitting in the car.
"I think my father knew your father," he said.
Emily turned.
He handed her another photocopy.
A letter from David Caldwell to Thomas Hart.
Emily's father.
Thank you for refusing to sign the false appraisal. I understand what this may cost you.
Emily's hands trembled.
"What false appraisal?"
Ryan looked toward the apartment building.
"The land under your bakery."
A redevelopment project had been planned years earlier.
The properties were worth millions.
Miles had apparently used foundation shell companies to buy them cheaply from owners who did not know what was coming.
Emily's father had discovered it.
And refused to cooperate.
"Then why did he lose everything?" Emily asked.
Ryan had no answer.
But an old man sitting on a bench outside the hardware store did.
He recognized Emily.
May you like
And when she showed him Miles's photograph, he said something that changed the story again.
"That lawyer came here the week before your father died."
