Chapter 12 - The Man I Once Loved
Robert Sterling Jr. always sounded calm when he was threatening someone.
That was what I remembered now.
Not the restaurants. Not the weekends in Napa. Not the way he used to leave coffee outside my office when I worked late.
His calm.
"You knew," I said.
"About your father? Eventually."
"You dated me to find out what I knew."
A pause.
"It didn't start that way."
"That's supposed to help?"
"I cared about you. I still do."
I looked across the salon at Evan and the board.
"Then withdraw the smear file."
"I can't."
"Won't."
"Fine. Won't. Because if you release those documents, my father goes to prison and Sterling Capital implodes. Thousands of people get hurt."
"My father was one of those people."
"Your father made mistakes too."
There it was.
The sentence used by every person who wanted a victim to share blame with the person who hurt them.
"You have until noon," Robert said. "Sell your Whitmore position to us at a premium. Hand over the recorder and the files. We make the investigation disappear."
"And if I don't?"
"Your board removes you by Friday."
I almost smiled.
"You sound very sure."
"Check your email."
He hung up.
A message from my own board chair waited in my inbox.
Emergency meeting.
Vote on temporary leave.
Evan read it over my shoulder.
"He's attacking both companies."
"He learned from his father."
Captain Hale entered carrying another envelope.
"Courier delivered this to the marina office. For you."
No return address.
Inside was one photograph.
My father, sitting in a hospital bed two days before he died.
Standing beside him was Robert Sterling Sr.
On the back, written in my father's hand:
If Sterling comes back, ask Richard what happened at Harbor Mile 17.
I turned toward Richard.
His face drained of color before I said a word.
May you like
"What happened at Harbor Mile 17?"
He whispered, "That's where your father's car went off the road."
