Chapter 4 - EIGHTEEN MILLION DOLLARS
Alexander did not speak for several seconds.
“My signature?”
“Copies of it.”
“Where did you get them?”
Evelyn looked toward the hospital door.
“Close that.”
He did.
Then she told him something that made the staircase feel like the smaller problem.
Three weeks earlier, Evelyn had attended a lunch for the Reed Foundation. A retired accountant named Paul Mercer had pulled her aside after dessert.
“He told me your foundation was paying consulting fees to companies that didn’t seem to exist,” Evelyn said. “He thought you should know.”
“Why didn’t he come to me?”
“He tried. Twice.”
Alexander frowned.
“He said Grant blocked him both times.”
Evelyn continued. Mercer had given her copies of six transfers totaling eighteen million dollars. Each transfer appeared authorized by Alexander Reed.
But Evelyn knew her son’s signature.
She had watched him practice it at the kitchen table when he was twelve because he thought successful men needed impressive handwriting.
“These were close,” she said. “Too close. But wrong.”
“Why come to the house today?”
“Because I saw Victoria’s name.”
Alexander’s face hardened.
“Where?”
“One of the shell companies was registered through an attorney who also handled an apartment lease for her.”
He stood abruptly.
Evelyn grabbed his sleeve.
“Don’t charge out of here like a bull.”
“She pushed you down the stairs.”
“Yes. And if you act angry instead of smart, whoever is behind this will disappear.”
Alexander looked at his mother and felt twelve years old again.
“You knew she was involved before you confronted her?”
“I suspected.”
“That was reckless.”
“So was raising you.”
Despite everything, he laughed once.
Then the door opened.
The doctor entered with a scan on a tablet.
“Mrs. Parker, I need to discuss an unrelated finding.”
Evelyn’s humor vanished.
The doctor pointed to a small shadow near her left lung.
“It may be nothing,” he said. “But we need further testing.”
Alexander stared at the image.
Evelyn stared at him instead.
“No panic,” she said.
His phone vibrated.
Marcus.
Alexander answered.
“We found Bell’s car,” Marcus said.
“Where?”
“Airport parking.”
“Is he on a flight?”
“No.”
May you like
Marcus paused.
“His phone is in the car. His wallet is in the car. There’s blood on the driver’s seat.”
