Chapter 8 - VictorVictor Hale was fifty.
Unlike Richard, he had a public history of failed development projects and civil lawsuits.
He lived in Nevada but traveled frequently.
Police located him at an airport hotel.
Victor denied following Lucy.
“I had a meeting nearby.”
Detective Ruiz asked with whom.
Victor named a contractor.
The contractor said the meeting had been canceled the previous day.
Victor changed his story.
He said he stopped near the school to make a call.
Ruiz did not need Amanda to tell her that sounded weak.
But suspicious behavior was not the same as a crime.
A temporary no-contact order was sought while investigators examined Victor’s role in the financial scheme.
Amanda wanted him arrested immediately.
Eleanor reminded her:
“We don’t arrest people because we’re frightened.”
Amanda glared.
“I am not frightened.”
“You are.”
Amanda looked away.
She hated that Eleanor was right.
Fear had entered every ordinary location.
The school.
The house.
The road.
Amanda refused to let Lucy see all of it.
Yet children noticed tension.
That evening Lucy asked:
“Was Victor there because of me?”
“We don’t know why he was there.”
“Is he Richard’s brother?”
“Yes.”
“Richard said he hated him.”
“Richard lied about a lot of things.”
Lucy considered this.
“Do brothers lie about brothers?”
“People can lie about anything.”
“That sounds tiring.”
Amanda almost smiled.
“It probably is.”
The financial investigation revealed why Victor mattered.
Stonebridge Residential Consulting had not been created solely to steal from Amanda.
Victor already used the company for small construction projects.
Richard persuaded him to issue inflated invoices.
Victor received ten percent.
The rest flowed toward Hale Ridge Development and other Richard-controlled obligations.
Victor claimed he thought Amanda knew.
Nobody believed that easily.
One message from Richard destroyed much of his defense.
Keep her name off everything. A sees one Hale and she asks questions.
A.
Amanda.
Victor replied:
Then pay me enough for the risk.
Amanda read the exchange.
“How generous.”
Ruiz closed the file.
“Richard seems to have been the organizer.”
“And Gavin?”
“Gavin provided access.”
“Victor?”
“Provided the vehicle.”
“For theft.”
“Yes.”
Amanda stood near the window of Ruiz’s office.
“Three grown men.”
“Apparently.”
“Against me?”
Ruiz shook her head.
“Against your money.”
Amanda turned.
That distinction mattered.
They had not conspired because Amanda was uniquely foolish.
They had conspired because they saw something valuable and believed they could take it.
Still, Amanda could not escape one fact.
Richard got close enough because she loved him.
That evening a forensic analyst finally reconstructed deleted files from Richard’s computer.
One spreadsheet contained a financial model.
Projected $2.4 million loan proceeds.
Minus:
Richard debt settlement: $1.16 million.
Gavin payment: $240,000.
Victor / Stonebridge: $180,000.
Cash reserve: $420,000.
Legal / exit: $150,000.
The remaining amount was labeled:
Phase 2
Amanda stared.
“What’s phase two?”
Nobody knew.
Then another file supplied the answer.
A draft property listing.
Not for Briarwood.
For a commercial building Amanda owned through Caldwell Heritage Group.
Richard had no authority over it.
But Gavin had access to internal valuation documents.
They were preparing another fraudulent financing package.
The mansion had only been the first major target.
If it worked, they intended to keep going.
Amanda felt sick.
“How much?”
Eleanor read the draft valuation.
“Eleven million.”
The $2.4 million loan was no desperate one-time theft.
May you like
Richard had built a system.
And Lucy had stumbled into it before he could test how far it would go.
Related Stories
