Chương 9
He saw Arthur and stopped.
“I said alone if possible.”
“This is my attorney.”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“I can leave.”
Arthur slid out of the booth.
“So can we.”
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck.
Then he sat.
Arthur returned to his seat.
Nobody ordered anything.
Daniel looked at me.
“How is your daughter?”
“Bruised.”
He winced.
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.”
He took out his phone, turned it off, and placed it facedown.
Arthur watched him do it.
“What are you afraid of?”
Daniel gave him a humorless smile.
“Losing my career.”
“More specifically.”
“My license.”
Arthur’s expression changed slightly.
“You’re a CPA?”
“Yes.”
“Then start at the beginning of what you personally know.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Mark started pulling money out of Mercer Architectural about eighteen months ago.”
“For Diane?”
“Some of it.”
“How?”
“At first, legitimate distributions.”
“What does legitimate mean?”
“Owner draws.”
Arthur asked, “Was the firm structured to permit them?”
“Yes.”
“Were taxes accounted for?”
“Initially.”
Daniel folded his hands.
“Then revenue tightened.”
“Why?”
“A few projects stalled.”
“Harbor Point?”
“That came later.”
“Keep going.”
“Mark had expenses he didn’t want appearing as personal.”
“What kind?”
“Private car lease.”
I frowned.
“He drives a company vehicle.”
“He has another car.”
I stared at Daniel.
“What car?”
“A Porsche.”
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was so embarrassingly predictable.
“Where?”
“He keeps it in a storage facility near the airport.”
Arthur asked, “Purchased or leased?”
“Leased through a shell vendor.”
“Northline?”
“No.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Northline came after.”
“What else?”
“Country club costs.”
“I know about the club.”
“Not all of them.”
“How much could golf possibly cost?”
Daniel said nothing.
That answer was worse than a number.
“Fine.”
I folded my arms.
“What about Diane?”
“She’s been receiving money for years.”
“From Mark?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not exactly a secret.”
“Not like this.”
Arthur leaned forward.
“What changed?”
“About a year ago, Mark started routing payments through vendors.”
“Why hide payments to his mother?”
Daniel glanced toward the window.
“Because of how much.”
“Fifty thousand every quarter?”
“That was the most recent amount.”
My throat tightened.
“Two hundred thousand a year.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“Officially?”
“Start there.”
“Consulting.”
I laughed.
“What consulting?”
“Client relations and legacy development.”
“That means nothing.”
“Yes.”
“Did she perform any work?”
“Not that I could document.”
Arthur asked, “Who approved the payments?”
“Mark.”
“Who created the vendor?”
“Priya.”
“We know.”
Daniel looked up sharply.
“She talked?”
“She’s concerned.”
He nodded.
“I figured.”
“Where did Northline fit in?”
Daniel leaned back.
“At first, Diane was paid through a different LLC.”
“Which one?”
“Mercer Legacy Services.”
“That sounds like Mark.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“It was too obvious.”
“So Northline replaced it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“The bank started asking questions during a credit review.”
Arthur said, “About related-party transactions?”
“Yes.”
“So Mark concealed the related-party nature.”
Daniel nodded.
“That’s when I started pushing back.”
“What did he say?”
“That Diane was entitled to the money.”
“Entitled how?”
Daniel looked at me.
“He said she had funded the firm.”
I stared at him.
“She didn’t.”
“I know.”
“The startup money came from my grandfather.”
“I know.”
“Then why would Mark say that?”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
“He said the Sterling money only existed because Diane had supported him early in his career.”
I laughed once.
“That is not how money works.”
“No.”
Arthur asked, “Did Mark represent Diane as an equity investor?”
“Internally, sometimes.”
“On legal documents?”
“Not that I saw.”
“Tax documents?”
“No.”
“Then the payments were personal distributions disguised as vendor expense?”
“That’s what I believe.”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
“Believe or know?”
“I know the work wasn’t performed.”
“That matters.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
I looked at him.
“Why fifty thousand a quarter?”
He rubbed his thumb over the edge of the table.
“Because Diane asked for more.”
The answer was so ordinary it irritated me.
“She just asked?”
“At first.”
“What happened later?”
“Mark fell behind.”
“On paying his own mother?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She started threatening him.”
Arthur’s pen stopped.
“With what?”
Daniel looked at me again.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“But you know something.”
“I heard one argument.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
My stomach tightened.
The same time I had first gone to Arthur.
“Where?”
“Mark’s office.”
“What did she say?”
Daniel hesitated.
“That if he stopped paying her, she’d tell you everything.”
The coffee shop noise seemed to disappear around me.
Arthur’s voice stayed even.
“Everything about what?”
“That’s what I never found out.”
I looked down at my hands.
Six months earlier, Mark had shoved a chair into a cabinet during an argument about money.
I had assumed he was angry because I asked why the firm needed another line of credit.
Maybe that had not been the whole argument.
“What did Mark say back?”
Daniel swallowed.
“He told her she’d destroy all of them.”
“All of whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he say Clara?”
“No.”
“The girls?”
“No.”
“Company?”
“No.”
Arthur frowned.
“Exact words if you remember them.”
Daniel stared at the table.
“He said, ‘You tell her and you burn the whole family down.’”
A cold pressure gathered at the base of my neck.
“What did Diane say?”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“She said, ‘Then keep your promise.’”
I thought of Emma upstairs telling me that Diane always reminded Mark he had promised to take care of her.
Arthur asked, “Did you document this?”
“No.”
“Tell anyone?”
“No.”
“Why are you telling us now?”
Daniel looked tired.
“Because last night changed the math.”
I almost objected to the phrasing.
Then I understood.
“What math?”
“Before last night, I was protecting my job.”
He looked directly at me.
“Now Mark is destroying records and your signature is on a false guarantee.”
Arthur said, “Did you know about that document?”
“Not until yesterday afternoon.”
“How?”
“Vance’s controller called me.”
“Why?”
“They were reconciling the advance.”
“What did they ask?”
“Whether the Sterling guarantee should be disclosed in our lender package.”
May you like
“And?”
“I told them I had never seen it.”
