Chapter 6 - THE BILLIONAIRE’S NAME
By noon, Claire was admitted to a private hospital outside Albany under police protection.
Ethan remained in the corridor.
He had not been asked to stay.
He stayed anyway.
Marcus arrived carrying a laptop and the expression Ethan knew meant bad news.
“I traced North Briar.”
Ethan looked up.
“How bad?”
“Bad enough that legal is panicking.”
Marcus opened the computer.
North Briar Development had been created in 2010.
Four shell companies sat above it.
Two no longer existed.
One belonged to a Delaware trust.
The fourth had sold assets to Hale Infrastructure fourteen years earlier.
Ethan stared at the dates.
“I was twenty-eight.”
“You were buying distressed transportation land across New York.”
“I remember.”
“You personally signed three acquisitions.”
Ethan scrolled.
Then stopped.
Jonathan Vale.
Vale’s signature appeared as counsel.
Ethan leaned back.
“I met him.”
Marcus nodded.
“You met him six times.”
Ethan remembered now.
Vale had been polished.
Calm.
Generous with information.
He had brought Ethan opportunities before competitors saw them.
At the time Ethan thought he had found an exceptional attorney.
Now he wondered whether Vale had been laundering stolen property through ambitious businessmen.
“Find every asset.”
“I already started.”
“All of it.”
“Ethan, this could be hundreds of millions.”
“I said all of it.”
Marcus watched him.
“You’re thinking restitution.”
“I’m thinking evidence.”
The hospital room door opened.
Detective Ortiz stepped out.
“Claire wants to speak with you.”
Ethan entered alone.
Claire sat upright against white pillows.
Fresh clothes had replaced the gray sweater.
Her hair had been washed.
Without grime and darkness surrounding her, she looked younger and more fragile.
Yet her eyes were different.
Alert.
Suspicious.
Alive.
“I heard your company owns Bennett freight land.”
Ethan did not pretend otherwise.
“Yes.”
“Was it my father’s?”
“Possibly.”
“How much did you pay?”
“Sixteen million at the time.”
“And what was it worth?”
“More.”
“How much more?”
“Today?”
He paused.
“About one hundred and eighty million.”
Claire’s face changed.
“You made that from stolen property.”
“Not intentionally.”
“But you made it.”
“Yes.”
She looked out the hospital window.
Cars moved below.
People crossed parking lots carrying coffee.
Ordinary life fascinated her.
“My father used to take me to the freight yard.”
Ethan said nothing.
“He would put me on his shoulders.”
“He said one day the trains would belong to me.”
She looked back at Ethan.
“Did Jonathan Vale sell you my father’s land?”
“Yes.”
“Then he knew.”
“Yes.”
Claire’s hands tightened.
“And Vivian said she kept me alive because someone wanted me dead.”
“That’s what she claims.”
“Do you believe her?”
“Partly.”
“Why?”
“Because people telling complete lies usually avoid giving you a new investigation.”
Claire considered this.
“Vivian is afraid of someone.”
“I think so.”
“More than she is afraid of prison?”
“Yes.”
Claire’s face went still.
“Then that person is still alive.”
Before Ethan could answer, the door opened.
Ortiz entered quickly.
“We have another problem.”
She held a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was a photograph recovered from Vivian’s bedroom.
It showed Claire’s parents standing beside their car three days after the date they supposedly died.
Claire stared at it.
Her mother was holding a newspaper.
The date was visible.
March twenty-first, 2006.
Claire stopped breathing.
“My parents survived.”
Ortiz nodded.
“At least for three days.”
“Then where are they?”
Ortiz placed another photograph beside it.
This one had been taken at an airport.
Elizabeth Bennett was walking beside a man.
Claire’s father was nowhere visible.
The man beside Elizabeth was Jonathan Vale.
May you like
On the back someone had written four words.
SHE CHOSE THE WRONG SIDE.
