Chapter 13 - The Dead Man's Confession
Thomas Lane looked nothing like his memorial photograph.
The handsome man with neatly combed hair had become thin and hollow-eyed.
His beard was streaked with gray.
A long scar ran from his ear to his jaw.
He sat in an interview room at the precinct while Detective Hall and another investigator questioned him.
I wasn't allowed inside.
Neither was Alexander.
Mateo had been checked by paramedics, and after answering some questions, he was permitted to return to our mother.
I hugged him so tightly he complained that I was crushing his ribs.
"Don't ever do that again."
"I know."
"You're grounded until you're forty."
He gave a weak smile.
"Fair."
Then his face crumpled.
"He said Dad had left something for me."
I held him closer.
"I know."
"I thought..."
He couldn't finish.
"You wanted to hear Dad's voice," I whispered.
He nodded against my shoulder.
I didn't scold him again.
Someone had taken the one thing he wanted most and used it to manipulate him.
That kind of cruelty didn't need another lecture.
Later, Hall told us the basic facts Thomas had provided.
He claimed he had helped Victor Lane and Leonard Price move money out of the employee-benefit trust.
He admitted creating false companies.
He admitted signing documents he knew were fraudulent.
He admitted agreeing to fake his death after a dispute over the stolen assets.
But he denied participating in Arthur Ashford's death.
He also denied ordering the attack on Miguel Reyes.
"Do you believe him?" I asked.
Hall folded her hands.
"He's provided details that could be corroborated. That doesn't mean everything he says is true."
Alexander leaned against the far wall.
"Why come back now?"
"Thomas claims Victor's people found him overseas. He was threatened and forced to return to New York."
"Who threatened him?"
"He says Gabriel Sloane."
Arturo inhaled sharply.
The name had been hanging over us for days.
The missing student.
The man captured outside our apartment.
The person whose movements Arturo had recognized on the security footage.
Alexander looked at Hall.
"Where is Gabriel?"
"We're still looking for him."
I thought about the shadowy figure outside our building.
"Was he working for Victor?"
"Thomas says Gabriel took orders from Leonard Price."
That surprised me.
"Not Victor?"
"According to Thomas, Price controlled the payments and instructions."
Alexander frowned.
"Why would Price be running anything? He was my father's lawyer."
Hall looked at him.
"That doesn't prevent someone from having ambitions of his own."
I stared at the floor.
For days, we'd been following Victor Lane.
His daughter.
His companies.
His brother.
But Leonard Price's signature appeared everywhere.
The employee trust.
Arthur's medical order.
The stolen insurance payment.
The property transfers.
The evidence collected after Dad's murder.
Price had spent decades standing beside powerful men, appearing to be the person who handled paperwork.
Maybe that was why nobody had noticed how much power he actually possessed.
Hall continued.
"Thomas claims Victor and Price began their arrangement years before Arthur's death. When Arthur discovered irregularities, he hired Miguel to investigate."
I looked up.
"Then why did Dad keep investigating after Arthur died?"
"Because the trust assets were still missing, and employees were still being denied benefits."
"Did Thomas know Dad?"
"Yes."
I felt my hands tighten.
Hall's expression softened.
"Thomas says your father confronted him about the false records. He offered Thomas an opportunity to cooperate with investigators."
"Did he?"
"No."
I looked away.
Of course he hadn't.
Not then.
"He fled instead," Hall said.
Alexander spoke quietly.
"And Arthur?"
"Thomas says Arthur discovered the fraud and threatened to expose everyone involved. Price convinced Arthur to delay making a public statement while the accounts were reviewed."
"Then Arthur ended up in the hospital," I said.
Hall nodded.
"What happened to him remains under investigation."
I stared at the table.
"And my father?"
Hall looked troubled.
"Thomas says the subway attack was arranged to recover documents Miguel had collected."
"Who ordered it?"
"He claims Price."
My chest tightened.
"Does he have proof?"
"He says he retained financial records and communications."
"Where are they?"
Hall hesitated.
"Somewhere secure, according to him."
I leaned forward.
"Why won't he hand them over?"
"He wants a formal agreement with prosecutors before providing everything."
I laughed bitterly.
"Of course he does."
The man had spent fourteen years hiding from the consequences of his choices.
Now he wanted to negotiate.
Hall looked at me.
"I know how frustrating that is."
"Do you?"
Her expression changed.
I immediately regretted the question.
She'd spent days working to protect my family.
I looked down.
"I'm sorry."
Hall shook her head.
"You're allowed to be angry. Just don't let anyone use that anger to make decisions for you."
I remembered my father's words.
They seemed to follow me everywhere now.
After the meeting, Alexander walked with me toward the elevator.
"Can I ask you something?" I said.
"Of course."
"Why did you get engaged to Victoria?"
He stopped.
I'd expected him to say love.
Or business.
Or some complicated combination of both.
Instead, he said, "Because I wanted to believe I could leave one part of my life uncomplicated."
I stared at him.
"Victoria Lane?"
He smiled without humor.
"I know."
"Did you love her?"
"I thought I did."
"What changed?"
"I started seeing how she treated people when she believed nobody important was watching."
I looked at him.
"You must have seen that before the gala."
He nodded.
"Yes."
"Then why stay?"
"Because I was a coward in a different way."
The answer surprised me.
He looked away.
"Victor and I were negotiating a restructuring of several companies. I convinced myself Victoria's behavior was unpleasant but separate from the business. I ignored what I didn't want to confront."
I thought about the young waiter at the gala.
The woman Victoria had shoved.
The people who'd laughed because they were afraid not to.
"That wasn't fair to anyone," I said.
"No."
We reached the elevator.
I pressed the button.
"Are you going to marry her?"
"No."
"Did you tell her?"
"I ended the engagement through my attorney and notified her directly."
"How did she take it?"
Alexander's expression darkened.
"Badly."
The elevator arrived.
Before I stepped inside, he said, "Sophia."
I turned.
"I owe you something."
I looked at him warily.
"What?"
"Not money."
That surprised me.
He continued.
"An explanation for why your father trusted me with his life."
I crossed my arms.
"I'm listening."
Alexander looked down the empty hallway.
"When I was nineteen, after I hurt that employee, Miguel told me I had two choices. I could spend the rest of my life making people afraid of me, or I could become the kind of man they didn't need to fear."
I watched him.
"He told me that every time I chose power over decency, I was choosing which man I wanted to become."
"And which did you choose?"
Alexander's eyes filled with something like shame.
"The wrong one. More often than I wanted to admit."
I didn't answer.
Then he said something I hadn't expected.
"I'm going to give investigators the records of every illegal business I still control."
I stared at him.
"All of them?"
"Yes."
"That could put you in prison."
"I know."
"Then why?"
He looked at me.
"Because I can't keep asking people to trust me while hiding the things that make me untrustworthy."
The elevator doors began closing.
I held them open.
"Does Daniel know?"
"Yes."
"And he's okay with it?"
"He's not happy."
Despite everything, I laughed.
Alexander almost smiled.
Then my phone rang.
Detective Hall.
I answered.
"Sophia, we need to talk."
"What happened?"
"Thomas Lane has provided a name for the person who coordinated the attack on your father."
I looked at Alexander.
"Who?"
Hall's voice was grave.
"Gabriel Sloane."
I closed my eyes.
Then she continued.
"And there's something else. Gabriel didn't just train with Miguel."
My heart began pounding.
"He was present when Miguel died."
I leaned against the wall.
Hall paused.
"We've recovered an old photograph that appears to show Gabriel at the subway station that night."
"Did he attack Dad?"
"We don't know yet."
May you like
But then she said something that made me grip the phone.
"Sophia, your father may have been trying to protect Gabriel too."
