Chapter 8 - THE PERSON MARGARET TRUSTED
Arthur’s face went completely still.
“Who?”
Charles looked almost pleased to finally possess something Arthur wanted.
“Give me the trust.”
“No.”
“Then you’ll never know.”
Arthur stepped closer.
“I already know enough to destroy you.”
Charles laughed.
“Fraud?”
He shrugged.
“I’ll survive fraud.”
Daniel’s voice suddenly came through a speaker hidden in Arthur’s coat.
“No, Charles. You won’t.”
Charles’s face changed.
He looked around.
The agents had not moved yet.
Daniel continued.
“And neither will anyone who helped you.”
Charles realized he was being recorded.
His men tensed.
Arthur said:
“Who killed Margaret?”
Charles looked toward Mason.
Then me.
Then Arthur.
Finally:
“Raymond Pike sabotaged the car.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
Daniel’s voice cracked through the hidden speaker.
“Why?”
Charles smiled without humor.
“Because someone paid him.”
Arthur opened his eyes.
“Who?”
“Not me.”
“Then who?”
Charles looked at the original trust in Arthur’s hand.
“Margaret’s partner.”
Arthur frowned.
“She had no partner.”
Charles laughed.
“Not in Northline.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Margaret wasn’t only investigating me.”
The agents listening through the wire remained silent.
Charles continued.
“She was investigating Daniel.”
Arthur’s face changed.
I felt cold.
Daniel’s voice disappeared from the speaker.
Arthur said:
“My son?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“Insider transactions.”
Arthur shook his head.
“Daniel was thirty.”
“And ambitious.”
“No.”
Charles smiled.
“You think grief made you blind after Margaret died?”
He stepped closer.
“You were blind before.”
I wanted to believe he was lying.
Then Charles said:
“Ask Daniel why he transferred six million dollars through Northline the year before Margaret died.”
Arthur looked toward the hidden microphone.
Nothing.
No answer.
“Daniel?” Arthur said.
Silence.
Charles smiled.
“There.”
Arthur’s face drained.
Then Mason spoke.
“The six million wasn’t Daniel’s.”
Everyone looked at him.
Charles’s smile vanished.
Mason continued.
“I traced it.”
One of the men behind him moved.
I shouted:
“Don’t touch him!”
Arthur stepped forward.
Mason said:
“The account used Daniel Calder’s authorization code.”
Charles nodded.
“Exactly.”
“But the device signature wasn’t his.”
Charles stopped.
“What?”
Mason looked at me.
Then Arthur.
“It came from Charles Price’s office.”
My heart pounded.
Charles laughed.
“You’re bluffing.”
“No.”
Mason’s voice strengthened.
“My firm archived authentication logs separately from the financial data.”
Charles’s face changed.
Mason continued.
“You used Daniel’s credentials.”
Arthur stared at Charles.
“So Margaret caught you impersonating my son.”
Charles said nothing.
“And then?”
Mason answered.
“She created Northline to investigate.”
Arthur finally understood.
Charles had not merely stolen after Margaret died.
The theft began before.
Margaret found it.
Then she died.
Arthur stepped toward him.
“Why pay Pike after I resigned?”
Charles’s jaw tightened.
Mason whispered:
“To keep him quiet.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
There it was.
Not direct confession.
But enough.
Then sirens sounded outside.
Charles spun.
Federal agents flooded the lobby entrances.
His men raised their hands.
Charles backed toward the old desk.
Daniel entered behind the agents.
His face looked destroyed.
Not triumphant.
Destroyed.
He stared at Charles.
“You used my credentials.”
Charles laughed bitterly.
“You were always going to inherit everything.”
Daniel answered:
“You could have built your own life.”
“I did.”
“With stolen money.”
“Your family had enough.”
Arthur looked at him.
“That is what people tell themselves before taking what isn’t theirs.”
Agents cuffed Charles.
Then Vanessa appeared from the hallway.
Everyone froze.
She had been there the entire time.
Her makeup was streaked.
Her phone in her hand.
“Dad.”
Charles looked at her.
“Go home.”
“No.”
For the first time, Vanessa did not obey him.
She held up the phone.
“I recorded everything.”
Charles’s face collapsed.
Vanessa whispered:
“You told me we were protecting the family.”
May you like
Then she looked at me.
“I think I’ve been protecting the wrong one.”
