Chapter 17 - The Counterattack
I did not go alone.
I was angry, not stupid.
Police established surveillance around the abandoned motel.
Margaret objected to me going at all.
I went anyway.
Some battles cannot be delegated.
The motel looked smaller than I remembered.
Half the windows were boarded.
The old neon sign hung crooked above the office.
Daniel sat inside Room 6.
No Robert.
No Kendra.
Just my son.
He looked exhausted.
A folder rested on the table.
Police had confirmed there was no immediate visible threat, but officers remained nearby.
I entered in my wheelchair.
Daniel stared at me.
“You brought police.”
“Yes.”
“I told you to come alone.”
“You also told a court I was incompetent.”
He almost smiled.
Almost.
The old Daniel flashed across his face for half a second.
Then disappeared.
“Where is Robert?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why threaten to burn the contract?”
“To make sure you came.”
“You could have called.”
“I didn’t think you would listen.”
“I have spent three years listening to you.”
He lowered his eyes.
The folder contained the original sale contract and schedules.
Seven names appeared in the appendix.
Two senior executives.
One board member.
An outside accountant.
Dr. Pike.
Robert.
Daniel.
Enough to trigger investigations across the company.
“Why give this to me now?”
Daniel looked around the ruined motel room.
“Dad used to bring me here.”
“I remember.”
“He told me this place mattered because you two built everything without anyone giving you money.”
“Yes.”
“I thought he was lecturing me.”
“He probably was.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“Robert brought me here last night.”
“Why?”
“To remind me that Dad never trusted me.”
“That isn’t true.”
“He showed me the trust changes.”
“Your father paid your gambling debt.”
“He also made sure I could never control anything.”
“Both can be true.”
Daniel looked at me.
That seemed to land.
“Robert wanted me to destroy this.”
He touched the contract.
“And?”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I finally read what I signed.”
A sad answer.
But perhaps an honest one.
Then he said, “There’s something else.”
Of course there was.
Robert had not merely planned to disappear.
He had been preparing to frame Daniel as the architect of everything.
The offshore accounts were connected to companies registered using Daniel’s identification.
The bribe payments could be traced through accounts Daniel controlled.
Even several forged documents were generated from Daniel’s home computer.
Robert had built an escape route.
His own nephew would become the criminal face of the conspiracy.
“Where is Robert going?” I asked.
Daniel hesitated.
Then handed me a handwritten address.
A private airstrip outside San Diego.
“He leaves tonight.”
Police moved immediately.
For once, Daniel did exactly what he should have done from the beginning.
He told the truth.
Hours later, Robert was arrested before boarding a chartered aircraft.
He carried two passports, cash, and an encrypted drive.
The news spread before midnight.
Reporters called it the Mercer family scandal.
They were wrong.
It was not a scandal.
It was an audit.
And we were not finished.
Because the encrypted drive contained one folder investigators opened the next morning.
Its title was simply:
EVELYN.
May you like
Inside were plans dated four months into the future.
My brother had been preparing for what would happen if the guardianship failed.
