Chapter 8 - THE DEAD MAN WHO SAVED PETERSON TECH
Thomas Peterson taught me how to build a company.
Not how to pitch.
Not how to network.
How to build.
He used to say a business was what remained when nobody important was in the room.
He died of pancreatic cancer ten years ago.
I attended his funeral.
Closed casket.
His daughter gave the eulogy.
I carried a box of his old engineering notebooks home and kept them in my office for years.
Now a bank record claimed he opened an account twelve months after his death.
Miriam looked at me.
“Could the identity have been reused?”
“Maybe.”
“Did Frank know him?”
I looked at Dad.
Frank stared at the account information.
“Yes.”
Of course.
“How?”
“Golf.”
“You hated golf.”
“I liked Thomas.”
“How much?”
Dad frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Enough to forge his identity?”
“No.”
Mom whispered:
“Frank.”
He looked at her.
Again, something passed between them.
I stood.
“I am finished watching the two of you communicate with facial expressions.”
Dad rubbed his forehead.
“Thomas came to us before he died.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
“He was worried about Peterson Tech.”
“He was dying.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He knew you were burning through cash.”
“I told him.”
“I know.”
“He asked you to help me?”
Frank hesitated.
“No.”
That surprised me.
“What did he ask?”
Dad looked at Mom.
Mom answered.
“To make sure you didn’t sell.”
I stared.
“Sell to who?”
“Halston Dynamics.”
I remembered Halston.
A much larger competitor had offered to buy Peterson Tech during our crisis.
I refused.
Barely.
Thomas had encouraged me to hold on.
Mom continued.
“He believed they wanted your patents, not your company.”
“That was obvious.”
“He believed something else.”
“What?”
“That someone inside Peterson Tech was helping them.”
My pulse shifted.
Nine years earlier.
Before Derek worked there.
Before Hawthorne existed as a revenue extraction machine.
“There was already a leak.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“We never found out.”
Miriam asked:
“What did Thomas propose?”
Dad answered reluctantly.
“A hidden customer.”
“North Harbor.”
“Yes.”
“He created it before he died?”
Dad nodded.
Finally, something made sense.
“The account opening date?”
“Preauthorized incorporation documents.”
Miriam frowned.
“That still doesn’t explain a post-death bank opening.”
Dad looked toward me.
“Because Thomas had a partner.”
“Who?”
Silence.
“Dad.”
“I never met him.”
“Name.”
“Samuel Reed.”
Miriam immediately searched internal records.
Nothing.
Derek shook his head.
“That name isn’t on the drive.”
Dad snapped:
“You didn’t know everything.”
“Neither did you.”
I stared at my father.
“So Thomas created North Harbor to place purchases with Peterson Tech.”
“Yes.”
“Your money funded them.”
“Partly.”
“Whose money funded the rest?”
Dad looked uncomfortable.
“Thomas’s partner.”
“How much?”
“Five million.”
“And after Peterson recovered?”
“North Harbor was dissolved.”
“What happened to the partner?”
“I don’t know.”
I laughed.
“Twenty-seven million dollars in hidden structures and nobody knows anything.”
Mom spoke softly.
“Thomas made us promise never to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because he said if you knew where the money came from, you would give it back.”
He knew me.
That hurt.
Then Miriam’s phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
We all watched.
She ended the call.
“Our investigator found Jenna Morales.”
I had not realized she was missing.
“Found?”
“She didn’t come home last night.”
My stomach tightened.
“Where is she?”
“At a hotel outside Providence.”
“Why?”
“She says someone followed her from work.”
Derek’s face changed.
“Who?”
“She doesn’t know.”
“Is she safe?”
“For now.”
Miriam looked at me.
“She has documents.”
“What documents?”
“Thomas Peterson’s original North Harbor agreement.”
Dad stood.
“That’s impossible.”
Miriam continued.
“She says someone mailed them to her three months ago.”
“Who?”
“No return name.”
“Why Jenna?”
“She doesn’t know.”
I did.
Or I thought I did.
Someone wanted Peterson Tech investigated from inside.
Someone had chosen an analyst with access to sales records.
Then Miriam added:
“There was a note.”
“What did it say?”
She read from her phone.
FRANK HOLLOWAY WILL PROTECT DEREK.
CAROL HOLLOWAY WILL PROTECT FRANK.
VIRGIL WILL PROTECT THE COMPANY.
USE HIM.
The room became completely silent.
I felt my stomach turn.
Even my reputation for doing the right thing had been turned into a tool.
May you like
Then Miriam read the final line.
WHEN VIRGIL FINDS NORTH HARBOR, TELL HIM THOMAS NEVER DIED.
