Chapter 13 - A Father's Worst Signature

Adrian watched Miles through the interview-room glass. His old friend no longer looked like a man who could fix anything.

Marisol joined Adrian with a stack of documents. "We found your company's banking information attached to eleven Morrow House grants. Payments went elsewhere, but the paperwork makes it appear you approved the work."

"I didn't."

"I believe you didn't receive the money. That doesn't make the documents disappear."

She laid out the forms. Adrian recognized one legitimate estimate and several signatures copied from it. Then he saw a page with his real signature and his own handwritten date. Under the signature was a paragraph authorizing Miles to submit revisions on his behalf.

"I signed this one," Adrian said.

"Did you read it?"

"No. Miles told me it was a routine bid update."

Marisol didn't scold him. That was worse. She simply waited.

"Elise tried to warn me," he said. "She said the invoices were wrong. I told her not to pick fights with my friends."

"You need to tell the prosecutor exactly that."

Through the glass, Miles leaned forward and requested to speak. His lawyer arrived, whispered something to him, and finally nodded at Marisol.

Miles admitted transferring money among fake suppliers. He'd shown Simone where Elise stored her backups, believing she'd only fire Elise. Then Elise vanished.

"I asked what happened," Miles said, staring at his hands. "Simone told me Elise had run away. Then she showed me the signature on the vendor release. She said if I went to the police, Adrian would take the blame."

"So you kept quiet," Adrian said from the doorway.

Miles looked up with wet eyes. "I thought I was protecting you."

"You protected yourself."

"I know."

Marisol asked the question everyone had avoided. "Did you know where Elise was held?"

Miles hesitated. "I paid for repairs at Heron Reach. Kent told me it was a vacation house."

"How recent were the repairs?"

"Last week. A new lock. A camera system. And a replacement gasoline tank in the boathouse."

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Marisol was already reaching for her radio when Adrian understood why the tank mattered.

Someone had prepared the boathouse to burn.