Chapter 9 - THE MAN IN RICHARD’S STUDYI did not go home alone.
I wasn’t foolish.
But I let Malcolm believe I did.
The police were informed.
So were federal investigators.
Daniel hated the plan.
“No.”
“We need him talking.”
“No.”
“He’s desperate.”
“Exactly.”
“He believes he can intimidate me.”
“He threatened you.”
“And I want him arrested for more than an anonymous text.”
Claire surprised me by siding with Daniel.
“This isn’t a board meeting, Eleanor.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then stop acting like risk is just another number.”
She sounded so much like Richard that I almost laughed.
Instead, I touched her arm.
“I’m not trying to be brave.”
“What are you trying to be?”
“Finished.”
That, they understood.
Police positioned officers several houses away.
I drove through the gates at 7:40 p.m.
The house looked dark.
I entered through the kitchen.
Nothing.
Then I saw light beneath Richard’s study door.
My heartbeat accelerated.
I opened it.
Malcolm sat behind my dead husband’s desk.
That made me angrier than anything else he had done.
“Get out of his chair.”
He smiled.
“You came.”
“Get out of his chair.”
Slowly, he stood.
A glass of Richard’s bourbon sat beside him.
“You kept everything.”
“Some things deserve keeping.”
“And some things should be buried.”
I left the door open.
Malcolm noticed.
“Expecting company?”
“I’m sixty-one, Malcolm, not suicidal.”
He laughed.
“You always were smarter than Richard gave you credit for.”
“Richard gave me plenty of credit.”
“No. He protected you from the ugly parts.”
“Such as you?”
His smile vanished.
I remained several feet away.
“You stole from that housing project.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I have account numbers.”
“Then give them to your lawyer.”
“I did.”
That struck him.
Good.
He walked toward the window.
“What do you want from me?”
“You summoned me.”
“To offer you one chance.”
“At what?”
“Fixing this.”
I almost smiled.
“You drugged me. Shaved my head. Tried to steal trust control, forged my son’s signature, and blackmailed him at his wedding.”
“I shaved nothing.”
“Your daughter did.”
“She’s an adult.”
“Interesting how quickly fathers stop being responsible when the consequences arrive.”
His jaw tightened.
“I can make this go away.”
“No.”
“You can.”
“How?”
“Release twenty million.”
I laughed.
He stared at me.
“Are you serious?”
“You’re asking for twenty million dollars after everything?”
“Not for me.”
“For whom?”
“Investors.”
“Whose money you stole.”
“I didn’t steal it.”
“You misplaced it?”
His face hardened.
“Hale Meridian got trapped by the market.”
“So you moved investor funds.”
“To keep projects alive.”
“That is not what investors authorized.”
“You know nothing about development.”
“I know what theft looks like.”
He stepped closer.
I didn’t move.
“Richard made the same mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“Thinking rules matter more than survival.”
That sentence revealed more than he intended.
“What did Richard discover?”
Malcolm looked toward the desk.
“You really don’t know?”
“Tell me.”
“He was going to expose me.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“And?”
“I convinced him not to.”
“How?”
“Claire.”
My blood turned cold.
“You knew about her.”
“Before Richard did.”
Of course.
Business rivals investigate one another.
Malcolm continued.
“I found Marianne while researching Richard.”
“You blackmailed him with his own daughter?”
“He didn’t know if she was his.”
“But you did.”
“I suspected.”
“What did you threaten?”
“To tell you.”
I stared at him.
“You thought Richard believed I would leave him over a child conceived before we met?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Malcolm smiled cruelly.
“I threatened Daniel.”
My stomach tightened.
“How?”
“Richard thought his son worshipped him.”
“He did.”
“Exactly.”
Malcolm had told Richard that if he exposed Hale Meridian, Malcolm would tell Daniel that Richard had hidden a second family.
“It wasn’t true,” I said.
“Truth isn’t always required.”
Richard must have known that eventually facts would clear him.
But Daniel had been young.
Vulnerable.
And Richard had already survived one heart attack.
He delayed confronting Malcolm.
Then delayed again.
Then became ill.
And died before finishing what he started.
“You spent fifteen years hiding behind a lie.”
“I spent fifteen years building a company.”
“With stolen money.”
“Everyone steals, Eleanor.”
“No.”
“Everyone with enough wealth does.”
I shook my head.
“That’s what dishonest people tell themselves so they can sleep.”
His face changed.
For the first time, rage replaced calculation.
“You think your husband was clean?”
“Yes.”
“You really are naïve.”
“Then prove otherwise.”
He smiled.
“Gladly.”
He opened Richard’s desk drawer.
My heart stopped.
“How did you—”
“Daniel gave Vanessa a house key months ago.”
He pulled out an old flash drive.
I recognized it.
Richard’s.
“You came for that.”
“I came for what’s on it.”
I stepped closer.
“What?”
“Records.”
“What records?”
“Everything.”
He pocketed the drive.
I realized why Malcolm had risked coming here.
Not to threaten me.
To retrieve evidence Richard had hidden.
“You knew it was here.”
“I suspected.”
“You searched his office before I arrived.”
Malcolm smiled.
“Thank you for confirming I found the right thing.”
He headed toward the door.
I blocked him.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Eleanor.”
“You’re not leaving with that.”
“Move.”
“No.”
He grabbed my arm.
Hard.
That was his final mistake.
Police entered from the hallway.
“LET HER GO!”
Malcolm froze.
Three officers rushed him.
He released me.
One pushed him against the desk.
The flash drive fell onto the carpet.
Daniel appeared behind the officers.
“Mom!”
“I’m fine.”
Malcolm twisted against the handcuffs.
“You set me up!”
“No,” I said. “You invited yourself into my house.”
An officer collected the drive with gloved hands.
Malcolm looked at it.
Panic.
Real panic.
Whatever was on that device frightened him more than arrest.
I looked at the officer.
“Make sure federal investigators receive that.”
Malcolm shouted:
“THAT BELONGS TO ME!”
I smiled.
“No.”
I looked around Richard’s study.
May you like
“It belongs to a dead man.”
And the dead man had finally gotten his chance to testify.
