Chương 7
“I’m saying fault is not a pie. Giving some to us does not leave less for him.”
He sat across from her.
For several minutes they examined the records. The first Northline payment had been twenty-eight thousand dollars fourteen months earlier. At the time, Cole Restoration had been waiting on two large client payments and lacked cash for payroll.
Lucas had created Northline, invoiced Cole Restoration for materials that did not exist, then used the payment to cover a real supplier balance elsewhere. The money had moved in a circle.
“He saved payroll,” Ethan said.
“He concealed a shortage.”
“He fixed it.”
“For one week.”
The next invoice was larger. Then another. Lucas had used short-term loans to fill the gaps, and betting accounts to chase the losses. Some months he replaced nearly everything. Other months the deficit grew.
“This started before you quit,” Ethan said.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
“Because he cried.”
Ethan looked up.
Margaret’s mouth twisted with something close to shame.
“He said he was trying to save your company. He said if you learned what happened, you’d fire him and he would have nothing. He promised he could repair it.”
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
The phrase settled between them.
Ethan had spent years accusing Margaret of never giving Lucas the benefit of doubt. Now he discovered that she had given it in secret, exactly when doubt might have protected them.
“When did you stop believing him?” he asked.
“When he asked me to sign a statement saying I had authorized Northline.”
“That’s what the power of attorney was for.”
“Partly. He also wanted access to negotiate the loan before the bank noticed the false documents.”
“And Claire found them.”
“Yes.”
Ethan rubbed his face.
Margaret closed the notebook. “He didn’t attack Claire because he lost control.”
“You don’t know that.”
“He brought the documents to your house. He took your phone. He called me. He left the voicemail running. Some of that was panic. Not all of it.”
“What was the plan?”
“To make you distrust the two people most likely to expose him.”
Ethan thought of entering the kitchen and seeing Margaret over Claire. Lucas had not needed a perfect plan. He had needed Ethan to complete it.
The following week, Ortiz arranged a video call with Ethan, Claire, and Margaret. She told them investigators had obtained a warrant for Lucas’s financial accounts and a court order preserving records associated with several email addresses.
“We also believe he’s still local,” she said. “A prepaid card was used yesterday at a pharmacy six miles from the commuter station.”
“Can you track the card?” Ethan asked.
“Not in real time.”
“Was there video?”
“We’re requesting it.”
Margaret leaned toward the laptop. “He has asthma.”
Ortiz nodded. “An inhaler was purchased.”
“He’ll need another prescription eventually,” Claire said.
“Possibly.”
Ethan said, “He’ll contact me again.”
Ortiz looked at him. “Why?”
“Because he didn’t leave with what he wanted.”
“What does he want?”
Ethan considered the question.
“Me to choose him.”
No one spoke.
Ortiz asked him to respond to Lucas’s email with a short message approved by investigators. Ethan wrote that he wanted to hear how Lucas planned to return the money.
Lucas answered eleven minutes later.
Not by email. Call the number below at nine tonight. Alone.
The detective arranged for the call to be recorded with Ethan’s consent. She warned him not to make promises, not to threaten, and not to demand a confession. He was to keep Lucas talking about practical details.
At nine, Ethan sat in his darkened office while Ortiz and a financial investigator listened through headphones in the next room.
He dialed.
Lucas answered immediately.
“You took your time.”
“The bank locked everything.”
“I warned you.”
“You said you could return the money.”
“I can return enough.”
“How much?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether Mom withdraws the recording.”
“It’s a voicemail. She can’t make it stop existing.”
“She can say she misunderstood.”
“And Claire?”
A pause.
“Claire was upset.”
“You grabbed her.”
“She grabbed the papers.”
“You hurt her.”
“I tried to stop her from destroying evidence.”
Ethan nearly laughed. The sound rose bitterly in his throat, but he held it back.
“Evidence of what?”
“That I was fixing your mess.”
“My mess?”
“You think the company survives because you wear black shirts and yell at subcontractors? Dad left debt. Mom hid it. You kept bidding jobs too low because you wanted everyone to like you. I moved money so people got paid.”
“You stole one hundred eighty-six thousand dollars.”
“I moved one eighty-six. I lost less.”
“How much?”
Lucas breathed into the phone.
“One nineteen.”
The number came too quickly to be invented.
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Not over the phone.”
“You used my identity.”
“I used your access.”
“You signed my name.”
“You gave me authority for years.”
“Not that authority.”
“You never asked what I was doing as long as the numbers worked.”
The accusation held enough truth to hurt.
Lucas continued. “Mom asked questions because questions are the only thing she has. Claire asked because she doesn’t trust anyone. You built a company on people cleaning up behind you, Ethan.”
“What do you want?”
“A statement.”
“About Mom attacking Claire.”
“About what you saw.”
“I saw Mom holding a spoon.”
“You saw Claire hurt.”
“I saw what you wanted me to see.”
Silence.
Then Lucas laughed softly.
“There he is.”
“Who?”
“The son she likes.”
Ethan gripped the desk edge.
“I’m not doing this.”
“You already did. You put your hands on her. All I did was know you would.”
In the next room, Ortiz tapped once on the glass, reminding Ethan to continue.
“Where are the original loan papers?”
“Safe.”
“And the money?”
“Safe.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you keep asking questions with expensive answers.”
“What does the statement buy?”
“Your company. Your house. Maybe your marriage.”
May you like
“Claire won’t lie.”
“She doesn’t have to. You saw your mother standing over her. You can say you believed there was an immediate threat. Mom looks unstable, the recording becomes retaliation, and the bank sees a family dispute instead of fraud.”
