Chapter 11 - The Marina
Police wanted me nowhere near the marina.
I wanted Caleb in handcuffs.
Nora wanted one thing.
“Come back.”
She said it from her hospital bed while Avery slept in the NICU.
“No hero stuff.”
“That’s what Reed said.”
“I’m more terrifying than Reed.”
For the first time in two days, I laughed.
Then Nora’s expression softened.
“You don’t owe Elaine your life.”
“No.”
“But?”
“But my family has spent years making other people pay for our mess.”
She nodded.
“Then help. Don’t sacrifice yourself.”
The marina sat on a narrow inlet surrounded by pine trees. Police boats waited out of sight beyond the bend. I wore a wire and carried no weapon.
Caleb stood on the dock in a navy coat.
Elaine sat inside a cabin cruiser with her wrists bound.
She was bleeding from the forehead but conscious.
“Ethan,” she called.
Caleb smiled.
“You look like Arthur when you’re angry.”
“That supposed to scare me?”
“It should.”
He held up a folder.
“Your father thought he was running the scheme. Julian thought he was. The truth is neither man could organize breakfast.”
“You used them.”
“I advised them.”
“You forged my name.”
“I prepared contingencies.”
“Why keep doing it after Grandpa died?”
“Because Arthur’s trust gave your unborn child enough voting power to expose every transaction I buried.”
There it was.
Nora wasn’t the only target.
Avery was evidence with a heartbeat.
Caleb stepped onto the boat.
“You’re going to sign a confession admitting you created the offshore accounts. Then you’ll authorize the Meridian transfer.”
“And Elaine?”
“She leaves.”
“You expect me to believe you?”
“No. I expect you to love your child enough to gamble.”
I boarded.
He handed me a pen.
I looked at the confession.
It blamed me for everything.
Then Elaine laughed.
Caleb turned.
“What’s funny?”
“You still don’t know what Arthur did.”
His face changed.
Elaine looked at me.
“Ethan, the trust never needed Nora’s signature to block them.”
“What?”
“It activated automatically the moment anyone attempted an unauthorized proxy.”
Caleb went still.
Elaine smiled through the blood on her face.
“The second Madison presented that fake notary seal, the company entered dead-hand protection.”
May you like
Caleb raised his gun.
And from the tree line, Detective Reed shouted, “Drop it!”
