Chapter 14 - The Accountant
I wanted Thomas to be lying.
He had lied before.
He had stolen.
He had helped hide fraud.
He had stood in that garage while Marcus touched Dad’s car.
But when I entered the interrogation room, Thomas looked like a man who had finally run out of places to hide.
His attorney sat beside him.
Federal investigators were now involved because of the interstate banking transactions.
Thomas looked at me.
“Is Richard safe?”
“For now.”
His shoulders dropped.
“You saw Nathan.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
“He gave you the blue envelope.”
“Yes.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“I knew he would.”
I sat.
“Tell me why you said Nathan planned the crash.”
Thomas looked at his attorney.
The lawyer nodded.
Then Thomas began.
“Twenty-four years ago, I stole money.”
“I know.”
“Not eight hundred thousand.”
I waited.
“Three hundred thousand.”
“Nathan’s files say eight.”
“Because Nathan added transfers I never made.”
My pulse shifted.
“Why?”
“At first, I didn’t know.”
“Then?”
Thomas stared at the table.
“Nathan was stealing too.”
I said nothing.
“He found my account during the audit.”
“He told me he could expose me or make the problem disappear.”
“What did he want?”
“Access.”
“To what?”
“Vendor systems.”
“Bid data.”
“Project costs.”
“He wanted to see which contractors could be squeezed.”
“You expect me to believe the respected forensic accountant blackmailed you?”
“No.”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“I expect you to believe that people are rarely what their reputations say they are.”
I thought of Vivian.
David.
Marcus.
Dad.
Me.
“Continue.”
“Nathan used me for almost two years.”
“Vivian discovered part of it.”
“She thought I was the mastermind.”
“She blackmailed me.”
“Nathan realized she could become useful.”
“He fed her information.”
“She thought she had leverage over me.”
“In reality, Nathan controlled both of us.”
“Where was David?”
“Outside the company then.”
“He entered later.”
“How?”
“Vivian told him.”
“David saw the operation and expanded it.”
“So Nathan and David became partners?”
Thomas shook his head.
“Rivals.”
That was new.
“They hated each other.”
“But neither could expose the other without exposing himself.”
“So they cooperated?”
“Sometimes.”
“Competed other times.”
Dad had spent decades at the center of a criminal ecosystem built around his company without understanding the full shape of it.
“Why would Nathan want Dad dead?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Because Richard was finally going to discover who Nathan really was.”
“How?”
“The blue envelope.”
I frowned.
“Nathan had it.”
“Yes.”
“Why would he preserve evidence against himself?”
“He didn’t.”
Thomas leaned forward.
“He changed it.”
My skin prickled.
“What?”
“The original note didn’t say investigate Thomas Reed first.”
“What did it say?”
Thomas stared at me.
“Investigate Nathan Cole.”
Silence.
I remembered the handwriting.
Dad’s handwriting.
Or something that looked like it.
“Can you prove that?”
Thomas nodded.
“Richard photographed the original.”
“When?”
“Fourteen years ago.”
“Where is the photograph?”
“Old company backup.”
“The Wisconsin data center?”
“Yes.”
My heart pounded.
We had access to those backups now.
Ben could retrieve it.
“Why did Nathan keep the envelope?”
“Because David tried to steal it.”
“Nathan got there first.”
“He replaced the page.”
“And waited.”
“For what?”
“For Richard to need him again.”
I stood.
Thomas spoke quickly.
“There’s more.”
I looked back.
“The crash.”
“What about it?”
“David came to me three days before.”
“He said Richard had reached out to Nathan.”
“He wanted to frighten him.”
“Marcus would disable the warning sensor.”
“David would alter pressure slightly.”
“No total failure.”
“You agreed.”
Thomas shut his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because David had evidence of my theft.”
“So you chose yourself.”
“Yes.”
At least he knew.
“But in the garage, after Marcus disconnected the sensor, David changed his mind.”
“He reached toward the master cylinder.”
“I stopped him.”
I frowned.
“The video shows his hand.”
“It doesn’t show what happened after the missing twenty-two seconds.”
“What happened?”
“I pulled him away.”
“We argued.”
“Vivian threatened to call police.”
“David backed down.”
My breathing slowed.
“If David didn’t damage the main line…”
“He didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Nathan had access to the fleet facility.”
“No.”
“He hadn’t worked for Hale in years.”
“He consulted for the insurance company that audited fleet safety.”
My stomach dropped.
“He was there the next morning.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw the sign-in record.”
“Why didn’t we?”
“Because he used another name.”
“What name?”
Thomas told me.
I texted it to Ben.
He replied two minutes later.
FOUND IT.
The alias entered the maintenance facility at 5:42 a.m.
Three hours after Marcus.
The day before Dad’s crash.
Ben checked archived employee badge photographs.
The image attached to the visitor credential showed an older man.
White hair.
Glasses.
Nathan Cole.
I felt sick.
Thomas continued.
“David realized what Nathan had done after the crash.”
“How?”
“Because Nathan called him.”
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘Now Richard will need us.’”
I stared at Thomas.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas shook his head.
“I never understood.”
I did.
A crisis.
A weakened founder.
Competing factions circling him.
Each needed Dad alive enough to manipulate.
Weak enough to control.
Nathan had not necessarily wanted to kill Dad.
He may have wanted to create the crash.
Just like David claimed.
Except Dad almost died.
I left the interview room and called Ben.
“Where is Nathan now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find him.”
I called Dad.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
My blood went cold.
I called Leonard.
He answered immediately.
“Isabella.”
“Where’s my father?”
Silence.
“Leonard.”
“He insisted on going to the data center.”
“What?”
“He said he wanted the original backup.”
“Who went with him?”
Another pause.
“Vivian.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“He said she knew which archive folder David used.”
I closed my eyes.
Dad.
Still trusting pieces of people who had already destroyed him.
“Where are they?”
“On the road.”
“How long ago?”
“Forty minutes.”
I called Dad again.
No answer.
Then Vivian.
Nothing.
Ben called.
His voice was tight.
“I found Nathan’s phone.”
“Where?”
“Heading north.”
“Toward Wisconsin?”
“Yes.”
I grabbed my coat.
Then my phone buzzed.
A photo message.
Unknown number.
Dad sat in the back seat of a car.
Vivian beside him.
Both looked unconscious.
A hand held today’s newspaper in front of them.
Below the image was one sentence.
May you like
BRING THE BLUE ENVELOPE.
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