Chapter 7 - ELLIOT’S UNCLE HAD BEEN HELPING MONIQUE FOR YEARSRobert Landon arrived at Warren’s office furious.
“You dragged my name into a police inquiry?”
Warren closed the door.
“I didn’t drag anything.”
Robert was fifty-two.
Expensive suit.
Same green eyes Amelia had.
He had been the one to give the eulogy at her funeral.
Warren had trusted him with Elliot.
Now his name appeared beside Monique’s.
“I introduced Meridian,” Robert said. “That isn’t illegal.”
“No.”
“Then what is this?”
Warren slid photographs across the desk.
Monique outside Amelia’s attorney’s office.
Monique meeting Gregory Vale.
MB Family Management.
Robert stared.
“What am I supposed to see?”
“My wife knew about Elliot’s trust before I met her.”
Robert’s expression barely changed.
Too little.
Warren noticed.
“You knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Monique.”
“I knew her professionally.”
There it was.
Warren leaned back.
“How long?”
Robert sighed.
“Six years.”
Warren’s stomach turned.
“You introduced us.”
“No.”
“The Calden dinner.”
“I invited both of you.”
“That’s introducing us.”
“I didn’t make you marry her.”
Warren stood.
“You knew Amelia investigated her.”
Robert looked away.
Warren felt rage rise.
“You knew.”
“My sister became paranoid when she got sick.”
“She started investigating Monique before the diagnosis.”
Robert’s mouth tightened.
“How much did you read?”
“Enough.”
“Then you know Amelia was trying to block the Meridian deal.”
“There was no Meridian deal four years ago.”
“No.”
Robert looked at him.
“But there was another buyer.”
Warren froze.
“What?”
Robert sat.
“Amelia always opposed selling.”
“Why?”
“She believed our father wanted Landon to remain independent.”
“Didn’t he?”
“He also left us a company that needed capital.”
Warren crossed his arms.
“What does this have to do with Monique?”
Robert’s eyes hardened.
“She worked for an advisory firm.”
“Vale Strategic.”
“Yes.”
“They found buyers.”
“And accessed Elliot’s trust.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Lie.”
Robert slammed his hand on the desk.
“Don’t call me a liar.”
“My son was locked in a basement while people forged records to get control of his shares.”
Robert’s anger vanished.
“What?”
Warren watched him carefully.
That reaction looked real.
“Monique tried to place Elliot in a residential facility last Thursday.”
Robert stared.
“Without you?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Dr. Pike created false behavioral records.”
Robert slowly sat.
“I knew she wanted temporary voting authority.”
Warren went still.
Finally.
Truth.
“Why?”
“To close the Meridian deal.”
“And you thought that was acceptable?”
“She told me Elliot’s trust administrator would approve the vote if she became co-guardian.”
“Why would she become co-guardian?”
Robert hesitated.
“She said you agreed.”
Warren laughed.
“Did you see my signature?”
“Yes.”
“Real?”
Robert’s face changed.
“I assumed.”
“Did Amelia ever tell you Gregory Vale had forged my electronic signature?”
Silence.
Robert looked genuinely frightened now.
“No.”
“Then you should start questioning every document Monique gave you.”
Robert rubbed his face.
“What has she done?”
Warren’s voice became colder.
“To my son?”
He pushed Irene’s video across.
“I’m going to show you.”
Robert watched.
By the end, his face was gray.
“That’s Elliot?”
Warren said nothing.
Robert covered his mouth.
“I didn’t know.”
“You helped her.”
“I helped sell a company.”
“You helped her get close to Elliot’s trust.”
“I thought you agreed.”
“Stop hiding behind that.”
Robert looked at him.
Warren continued.
“You knew your sister suspected her.”
“Yes.”
“And you still worked with her.”
Robert’s eyes filled.
“Because Amelia threatened to destroy the company.”
“What?”
“She found irregularities.”
“Fraud?”
Robert didn’t answer.
“Robert.”
“There were off-book payments.”
“To who?”
“Consultants.”
“Monique?”
“Vale.”
Warren’s pulse quickened.
“Why?”
“Vale helped move money between subsidiaries to improve quarterly numbers.”
“That’s fraud.”
“Yes.”
“Did Amelia discover it?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She wanted to report it.”
“What did you do?”
Robert looked sick.
“I begged her not to.”
Warren stared.
“When?”
“Three months before her cancer diagnosis.”
The room went silent.
Robert continued.
“She said she had copies. She said if we didn’t correct the books, she would go to regulators.”
“Did you?”
“We started.”
“Started?”
“Then she got sick.”
Warren felt something cold inside him.
“Convenient.”
Robert shot to his feet.
“You think I hurt my sister?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“I loved Amelia.”
“You also needed her quiet.”
Robert stared.
Warren continued.
“And after she died, what happened to the investigation?”
“It ended.”
“What happened to the records?”
“I thought they were destroyed.”
Warren looked toward the blue box sitting in his locked cabinet.
“They weren’t.”
Robert went pale.
Then Warren noticed something.
Not guilt.
Fear.
“Who are you afraid of?”
Robert looked toward the office window.
“No one.”
“Monique?”
“No.”
“Vale?”
Silence.
“Dr. Pike?”
Nothing.
Warren stepped closer.
“Who?”
Robert finally whispered:
“Meridian.”
Warren frowned.
“The buyer?”
“They’re not just a buyer.”
“What does that mean?”
Robert looked at him.
“They’ve been trying to acquire Landon for seven years.”
“Since Amelia was alive.”
“Yes.”
“Who first brought them to you?”
Robert swallowed.
“Gregory Vale.”
The same man everywhere.
Warren’s phone buzzed.
Daniel Knox.
He had found something else.
A payment from Meridian Health Partners.
Four years ago.
Two weeks before Amelia’s cancer diagnosis.
Recipient:
Pike Clinical Research Services.
Warren stared at the name.
Dr. Leonard Pike.
Elliot’s therapist.
The man who wanted Elliot institutionalized.
“What did Pike do before child psychiatry?” Warren asked.
Robert looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel answered over speaker.
“Oncology research.”
Warren stopped breathing.
Amelia’s illness.
Pike.
Meridian.
Vale.
Monique.
For the first time, Warren allowed himself to consider a possibility so ugly he almost rejected it.
“What hospital treated Amelia?”
Robert’s face went white.
He already knew why Warren was asking.
“St. Vincent’s.”
“Who consulted on her trial medication?”
May you like
Robert whispered:
“Leonard Pike.”
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