Chapter 13 - The Blue Ledger
The repair shop had kept Garrick’s abandoned phone. After receiving a subpoena, the owner preserved it, and a recovery specialist found fragments of messages between Garrick and Martin Vale about the transfer, the forged release, and the blue ledger.
One message from Garrick read: Once the money clears, Clara can fight over paper. We’ll be gone.
Another, sent six days later, read: You said the trust couldn’t be traced. Why is the bank calling?
The messages matched the bank records and ledger entries. Agent Kim requested a forensic image of the phone, and Natalie prepared to submit them as corroborating evidence.
The blue ledger turned up in a storage unit Garrick had rented under the name of one of his employees. A court-authorized search found it in a sealed plastic tote, beneath boxes of holiday decorations. The pages tied three shell companies to payments from the trust. They also showed that Garrick had been told, years earlier, that the transfers were not authorized.
For the first time, there was proof he had known. He could no longer claim that Mom had simply given him money without explanation.
After the ledger was recovered, Garrick requested a recorded settlement conference. Natalie advised me not to go, but I agreed with counsel present. Garrick arrived looking older than he had a week earlier. He had no flowers, no bakery bag, no practiced grin.
“You got what you wanted,” he said.
“No. I wanted a family that didn’t make my children beg to be included.”
He looked away. “You don’t know what it was like being the one who kept failing.”
“You had a mother who kept saving you. I had a mother who made me feel guilty for needing anything.”
He leaned forward. “I can return some of it. Not all. Give me time.”
“How much is left?”
His eyes dropped to the table.
May you like
Natalie slid a bank statement in front of him. “We already know about the property, the company shares, and the accounts.”
Garrick stared at the page. Then he whispered, “There’s another account.”
