Chapter 10 - Lucas Finally Told the Truth
Lucas was standing in the lobby when we arrived.
Not running.
Not hiding.
Waiting.
The flash drive sat in his hand.
Evelyn rushed toward him.
“What have you done?”
He looked exhausted.
“I’m ending it.”
Ben stepped between them.
“You stole Adam’s evidence.”
“I borrowed it.”
“Don’t.”
Ben’s voice was dangerous.
“Do not talk to me like I’m stupid.”
Lucas looked at him.
“You’re right.”
That stopped everyone.
Lucas handed the drive to Detective Alvarez.
Then raised both hands.
“I’m ready to give a statement.”
Evelyn stared at her son.
“About what?”
“Everything.”
Alvarez led us into a conference room.
A camera was placed on the table.
Lucas refused a lawyer.
That alone told me how serious he was.
He sat across from us.
“My father began the North Lake accounts.”
Evelyn whispered, “Why?”
“To hide payments.”
“To Helen?”
“Some.”
Lucas looked at Ben.
“Some were to doctors, investigators, and attorneys who helped keep her location secret.”
Ben’s jaw tightened.
Lucas continued.
“Later Patrick discovered the accounts could be used for other transfers.”
“How much?” Alvarez asked.
“Over thirty years?”
“Yes.”
Lucas looked down.
“More than two hundred million.”
Even Evelyn lost color.
Alvarez stayed still.
“Where did the money go?”
“Property deals. Political consulting. Personal accounts. Debt payments.”
“Your accounts?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn shut her eyes.
Lucas swallowed.
“When Dad got sick, the company was overleveraged. Patrick told me if certain loans defaulted, we’d lose control.”
“So you stole?”
“I authorized fraudulent transfers.”
“Same difference.”
“Yes.”
No excuses.
For the first time, Lucas sounded like Adam’s brother.
“I believed I could replace the money later.”
I almost laughed.
Everybody who stole millions apparently believed that.
“Adam discovered it,” Lucas continued. “He confronted me. I told him Patrick had created the system.”
“And then?”
“Adam wanted to go to the FBI.”
Evelyn gripped her cane.
“You told me he was having a breakdown.”
Lucas’s voice broke.
“I know.”
“You let me believe my own son was unstable.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of prison?”
“Of everything.”
Evelyn slapped him.
The sound cracked across the room.
Nobody stopped her.
Lucas didn’t move.
She whispered, “I buried him believing I had failed to understand him.”
“You did.”
Her face changed.
Lucas’s eyes filled.
“So did I.”
She turned away.
Alvarez asked, “What happened to Adam’s brakes?”
Lucas looked at me.
“The first attempt was Patrick.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Adam called me from the garage.”
My hands curled into fists.
“He said somebody cut the line.”
“What did you do?”
“I called Patrick.”
I stared.
“You called the man Adam suspected?”
“I didn’t know Adam suspected him yet.”
“What did Patrick say?”
“That Adam was staging it because he wanted leverage.”
“And you believed him?”
Lucas’s silence answered.
I stood.
“Sit down,” Alvarez said.
“No.”
I walked to the window because if I stayed near Lucas I might hit him.
Behind me, he continued.
“A mechanic repaired the line privately. Patrick paid him not to report it.”
“Why?”
“He said scandal would hurt the company.”
I laughed without humor.
“And the fatal crash?”
Lucas’s voice became quieter.
“I didn’t know.”
I turned.
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if I had known Patrick planned to kill him, I would have stopped it.”
“You didn’t stop anything else.”
That landed.
“I know.”
Alvarez leaned forward.
“What happened the night Adam died?”
Lucas stared at the table.
“Patrick called me at 11:40 p.m.”
“What did he say?”
“That Adam was going to destroy us.”
“And?”
“I told him I would speak to Adam.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Lucas’s eyes filled.
“Because I was angry.”
I felt something inside me go cold.
“Adam called you?”
“Seven times.”
Fourteen calls to me.
Seven to Lucas.
Nobody answered.
Lucas whispered, “I turned off my phone.”
Evelyn began crying silently.
“At 2:10 a.m. police called.”
He swallowed.
“I knew something was wrong the moment Patrick arrived at my house before the police left.”
Alvarez sat forward.
“How did he know?”
“He said a board member called him.”
“Did you verify that?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I didn’t want to know.”
There it was.
The truth about Lucas.
Not mastermind.
Not murderer.
Coward.
Sometimes cowardice caused almost as much damage.
“What happened afterward?” I asked.
“Patrick showed me the altered accounts. He said if investigators looked closely, I would go to prison and Mom could be implicated.”
“So you helped cover the crash.”
“I helped keep the financial investigation away.”
“You let police call Adam reckless.”
“Yes.”
“You let people blame him.”
“Yes.”
“You let Ellie grow up believing her father simply made a mistake.”
Lucas closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
I walked over.
I didn’t slap him.
I wanted him awake for every word.
“You do not get to ask me for forgiveness.”
“I won’t.”
“You do not get to tell Ellie you were protecting her.”
“I won’t.”
“You testify.”
“Yes.”
“You give them every account.”
“Yes.”
“You accept whatever happens.”
His eyes met mine.
“Yes.”
Evelyn turned toward him.
“Why now?”
Lucas looked at Ben.
“Because Patrick sent me a message.”
He pulled out his phone.
A photograph of Robert Carter leaving the hotel with Ellie.
My blood froze.
“What?”
Ben grabbed the phone.
Below the photograph:
THE BOY COST ME EVERYTHING. HIS FATHER CAN PAY.
Ben’s face went white.
“That was forty minutes ago.”
I called Robert.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
My heart began hammering.
Then my phone rang.
Ellie.
I answered immediately.
“Baby?”
She was crying.
“Mom?”
“Where are you?”
“Grandpa Robert fell down.”
Ben snatched the phone closer.
“Ellie, where?”
“We were going to get ice cream.”
“Is Robert hurt?”
“There was a man.”
I closed my eyes.
“Where are you now?”
“A lady police officer found me.”
Alvarez was already calling the detail.
We learned within seconds.
Patrick’s man had approached outside the hotel.
Robert recognized him.
He pushed Ellie behind a parked car and fought the man.
The attacker fled when officers arrived.
Robert had been struck in the head.
Alive.
Conscious.
Ben sat down hard.
“My father.”
Lucas looked at him.
Ben pointed.
“You don’t get to call him anything else.”
Lucas nodded.
“I know.”
We went to the hospital.
Robert needed twelve stitches.
Ellie ran into my arms.
I held her so tightly she complained.
“Mom, I can’t breathe.”
“Good.”
She giggled through tears.
Ben sat beside Robert.
“You’re never getting ice cream again.”
Robert smiled weakly.
“You’ll change your mind.”
“No.”
“Chocolate chip?”
Ben looked away.
“Maybe.”
Later that night, Evelyn stood outside the hospital room.
She looked at me.
“We end this tomorrow.”
“How?”
She handed me an invitation.
VALE DEVELOPMENT FOUNDERS GALA.
Annual shareholder event.
Eight hundred guests.
Press.
Investors.
The entire board.
“Patrick still owns shares,” Evelyn said. “He will attend remotely or through a proxy.”
“Why would he risk it?”
“Because tomorrow we vote on the sale of Riverside.”
“And he needs Ellie’s shares.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the invitation.
Then at Evelyn.
“You want me there?”
“I want everybody there.”
She smiled without warmth.
“Patrick spent thirty years hiding things in private.”
May you like
Her fingers tightened around the invitation.
“Tomorrow we destroy him in public.”
