Chapter 16 - Elias Saw Frederick Fall, but He Didn’t See a PushElias North looked twenty years older when Malcolm saw him again.
This time, he agreed to speak with family attorneys present.
"I should've told you."
Malcolm sat across from him.
"Yes."
"I was scared."
"Everyone was scared."
Elias lowered his eyes.
"Frederick asked me to come that night."
"Why?"
"I told him I wanted out."
"Out of Meridian?"
"Yes."
"Why not police?"
"Because I had processed transactions."
"You were implicated."
"Yes."
"Did you steal money?"
Elias shook his head.
"I received bonuses from Hartwell. Nothing from Meridian."
"Then why process it?"
"Walter told me it was Frederick's structure."
"Did you believe him?"
"For years."
"And later?"
"I stopped."
"What changed?"
"Samuel."
The dead accountant.
"He showed me one forged proxy."
"Frederick's?"
"Cassandra's."
She flinched.
Elias continued.
"I realized the system wasn't merely using stored authority. It was manufacturing consent."
"What did you do?"
"I confronted Walter."
"And?"
"He told me Frederick knew."
"Did he?"
"I asked Frederick."
"What did Dad say?"
Elias's eyes filled.
"He called me a coward."
Malcolm almost smiled sadly.
That sounded like Frederick.
"He said I'd helped because I didn't want to know enough to become responsible."
Silence.
Elias continued.
"He was right."
Malcolm knew the feeling.
"What happened the night he died?"
"I arrived through the service entrance."
"Using your duplicate badge?"
"Yes."
"Why leave your phone home?"
"I didn't want Walter tracking me."
"So you already feared him."
"Yes."
"Then?"
"I waited in the service office because Frederick was arguing with Walter."
"You heard it?"
"Parts."
"Did you see them?"
"Not initially."
"What happened?"
"Walter walked toward the library."
"Frederick?"
"Still near the staircase."
"Standing?"
"Yes."
"Confused?"
Elias hesitated.
"He looked unsteady."
Malcolm's stomach tightened.
"What did you do?"
"I stepped out."
"Did Dad see you?"
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
Elias closed his eyes.
"He said, 'You finally came.'"
Then Frederick asked for the Meridian records.
Elias had brought a drive.
He handed it over.
"Where is that drive now?"
"I don't know."
"Then?"
"Frederick started walking upstairs."
"Why?"
"He said the original ledger was in his study."
Malcolm leaned forward.
"He had already moved it digitally."
"Apparently he still wanted something physical."
"What happened?"
"He reached the fifth or sixth step."
Elias swallowed.
"He stopped."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"He fell?"
"No."
That word changed everything.
Malcolm stared.
"What happened?"
"He turned around."
"Then?"
"He looked past me."
"At who?"
"I didn't see anyone."
"What did he say?"
Elias whispered:
"'You.'"
Malcolm felt cold.
"Then?"
"He stepped backward."
"Did someone touch him?"
"No."
"You swear?"
"Nobody touched him."
"Then why did he fall?"
"He lost his balance."
Elias's voice shook.
"He reached for the rail. Missed. Fell backward."
Malcolm closed his eyes.
No push.
No dramatic murder.
A confused, unsteady seventy-year-old man on stairs.
Potentially affected by a medication he wasn't prescribed.
Still possibly caused by someone else.
But the fall itself appeared accidental.
"What did you do?"
"I ran to him."
"Was he conscious?"
"For a few seconds."
"What did he say?"
Elias stared at Malcolm.
"One word."
"What?"
"'Watch.'"
Malcolm's pulse changed.
The watch.
Frederick had used his last awareness to protect the digital ledger path.
"Then?"
"He stopped responding."
"Where was Walter?"
"He came back."
"How long?"
"Maybe thirty seconds."
"What did he do?"
"He saw Frederick."
"And?"
Elias looked ashamed.
"He took the drive from Frederick's hand."
Malcolm stood.
"What?"
"The Meridian drive?"
"Yes."
"You let him?"
"I was calling for help."
"Why didn't you tell police?"
"Walter said if the drive surfaced, we'd both go to prison."
"And you believed him."
"I had helped process millions."
Malcolm wanted to hit something.
Instead, he sat.
Facts.
"Did Walter alter Dad's medication?"
"I don't know."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Did Declan?"
"I never saw that."
"Dr. Boone?"
"I don't know."
Then Elias said something unexpected.
"Frederick suspected the wrong person."
"Who?"
"Cordelia."
Malcolm frowned.
"Why?"
"Because she handled his pill case."
"But?"
Elias shook his head.
"The week Cordelia left, the altered medication appeared again."
Meaning she couldn't have been responsible.
"Who handled medication that week?"
Declan picked it up.
Walter had access.
But someone else lived in the house.
Malcolm thought.
Frederick had a night nurse for three nights after a minor procedure.
Name?
He couldn't remember.
Cordelia did.
"Lucinda Shaw."
Julian located her.
She had left the agency shortly after Frederick died.
Now lived in Connecticut.
She agreed to speak.
Lucinda remembered the week clearly.
"Mr. Hartwell didn't like me touching his medication."
"Who did?"
"His son brought the pharmacy bag."
"Declan."
"Yes."
"Anyone else?"
She thought.
"Mr. Keene."
Walter.
"He was in the bedroom?"
"Study."
"Did he handle the bottles?"
"I saw him carry the pharmacy bag from the hall into the study."
Malcolm's heart accelerated.
"Why?"
"He said he was bringing it to Mr. Hartwell."
"Did you see him return it?"
"No."
Then Lucinda added:
"There was a woman too."
Malcolm frowned.
"Who?"
"I don't know her name."
"Describe."
"Mid-fifties. Dark hair. Expensive coat."
Cassandra wasn't dark-haired.
Cordelia was older.
Could be an executive.
"Did she interact with the medication?"
"I don't know."
"Why remember her?"
Lucinda hesitated.
"Because Mr. Hartwell shouted at her."
"What did he say?"
"I only heard one sentence."
Malcolm waited.
Lucinda repeated:
"'You already took enough from Joanna.'"
The room became silent.
Who had taken something from Joanna?
The first old fraud.
Joanna's investigation.
The mysterious internal source.
Then Cordelia identified the description.
"Marianne Keene."
Walter's wife.
Malcolm frowned.
"What did she have to do with anything?"
Cordelia looked at him.
"Before she married Walter, Marianne worked for your mother."
"As what?"
May you like
"Personal assistant."
The first lie suddenly had a face nobody had been looking at.
Related Stories
