Chapter 12 - The Other FamiliesFederal investigators found seven.
Seven wealthy families represented by Adrian Sloane over nine years.
In four, an elderly principal was declared incompetent.
In two, minor beneficiaries entered guardianship disputes after a parent's death.
In one, a widow sold property below market value to a company connected to Northstar.
Adrian had never been charged.
Each case looked legal by itself.
Together, they formed a pattern.
Daniel sat beside Rowan while analysts mapped companies.
Northstar Family Advisory.
Northstar Property Services.
Silver Ridge Fiduciary.
Vale Meridian.
PrivateLink Legal.
Different names.
Same accountants.
Same notaries.
Same expert witnesses.
One repeated name:
Dr. Malcolm Redd.
The psychiatrist who had written Daniel's preliminary “possible impairment” opinion.
He had also evaluated three previous families.
Daniel stared.
“This is a business.”
Rowan nodded.
“Looks like it.”
“What does Adrian make?”
“Fees. Property spreads. Management percentages.”
“And Nolan?”
“Client turned partner.”
“Lucinda?”
“Participant.”
Daniel looked at Gavin's file.
Not random cruelty.
Designed pressure.
Manufacture behavior.
Document reaction.
Present reaction without cause.
Create legal necessity.
Adrian had taught them.
Then investigators found Marcus Dell.
He wasn't fleeing.
He was in a hospital outside Las Vegas after a car accident.
Minor injuries.
He agreed to speak when told Adrian had disappeared.
Marcus admitted creating false signature packages.
Deepfake calls.
Document substitutions.
He had done it before.
“How many?” Rowan asked.
“Five.”
“Daniel?”
“The sixth.”
Marcus looked sick.
“Adrian told me nobody got hurt.”
Daniel stared.
“My son was threatened with institutional placement.”
“I didn't know.”
“You made the paperwork.”
“I know.”
Marcus began crying.
He had been paid $180,000 annually to operate “document continuity.”
Again, professional language.
“How did you make my video?”
“Corporate recordings.”
“Scar?”
“Lucinda sent photographs.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Voice?”
“Training videos.”
“Military details?”
“Nolan.”
“Did you know I was alive?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not until the restoration alert.”
“What did Adrian say?”
“He said it might be identity fraud.”
Daniel almost laughed.
The real Daniel becoming possible fraud.
“Then?”
“He told me to finish the amendment.”
“Why?”
“Friday.”
Everyone knew Friday.
Marcus also revealed Adrian's escape plan.
He kept encrypted archive outside the firm.
Location unknown.
If exposed, he planned to bargain with evidence implicating clients.
Meaning Nolan.
Lucinda.
Doctors.
Notaries.
Possibly judges?
Marcus didn't know.
Then one detail.
“Adrian always kept originals near water.”
Rowan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He said paper belongs where fire can't take it.”
Marina?
Lake house?
Safe near water?
Adrian owned a yacht slip in Marina del Rey.
Police searched boat.
Empty.
But hidden compartment contained copied estate files.
Seven families.
And one envelope.
Daniel Mercer.
Inside:
Original will.
Original amendment removing Nolan.
Anna's Schedule C.
Everything they needed.
Daniel almost felt relief.
Then Rowan found a photograph.
Adrian standing beside Lucinda.
Date on back:
Three years earlier.
Before Lucinda married Daniel.
Daniel stopped breathing.
“What?”
The photograph showed a charity gala.
Adrian.
Lucinda.
Nolan in background.
Daniel had met Lucinda at a veterans foundation event three years ago.
Nolan introduced them.
Or had he?
Daniel remembered Nolan saying:
“You two should talk. She has no patience for officers who think they're interesting.”
He laughed.
Lucinda laughed.
They dated.
Married eighteen months later.
Now a photograph proved Lucinda and Adrian knew each other before Daniel believed they had met.
Daniel called Lucinda's attorney.
“I want to ask her one question.”
Legal team allowed monitored conversation.
Lucinda appeared on video.
No makeup.
Eyes swollen.
Daniel held up photograph.
“When did you meet Adrian?”
She froze.
“Answer.”
“Before you.”
“How long?”
“Two years.”
Daniel's chest tightened.
“Did Nolan introduce you to me on purpose?”
Lucinda began crying.
“Daniel…”
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
Gavin was not in room.
Good.
Daniel asked,
“Why?”
“At first?”
“At first.”
“Nolan said you were lonely.”
Daniel laughed once.
Same kind of manipulation Adrian used everywhere.
“What did he tell you to do?”
“Nothing.”
“Lucinda.”
“He said meet you.”
“Then?”
“I liked you.”
Daniel stared.
“Was marrying me part of a plan?”
“No.”
“Did Adrian want access to my estate?”
“I didn't know then.”
“Then when?”
“After your deployment was announced.”
Daniel frowned.
“Before I disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That Nolan's debt could affect the company.”
“And?”
“That if you found out, you'd cut Nolan off.”
“So?”
“He asked whether you had updated your will.”
Daniel's stomach tightened.
They were already gathering estate information.
“Did you tell them?”
“I said I didn't know.”
“Did you search?”
Lucinda closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The week before you left.”
Daniel remembered his desk drawer slightly open.
He blamed Gavin.
He had actually asked his son whether he'd been in the office.
Gavin said no.
Daniel didn't believe him completely.
Another wound.
“Did you find anything?”
“No.”
“Did you tell Nolan?”
“Yes.”
Daniel's voice dropped.
“Did you know he was seeing you as a tool?”
Lucinda looked at him.
“I loved him.”
“And me?”
She cried.
“I loved you too.”
Daniel wanted to reject that as impossible.
But people were messy enough for it.
He didn't have to accept love as defense.
Then Lucinda said:
“Adrian planned for me to meet you.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“He said Nolan needed someone close to you.”
“When did he say this?”
“After we were married.”
“Did Nolan deny it?”
“No.”
Daniel stared.
His marriage had begun in a room where at least two people had motives he never knew.
Lucinda continued.
“But I didn't marry you because they told me.”
“Maybe.”
“I didn't.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Then why did you help them destroy Gavin?”
She had no answer.
That silence mattered more than any declaration of love.
Then Rowan entered.
“We found Adrian.”
Daniel turned.
“Where?”
“Not exactly.”
“What?”
“His car.”
“Where?”
“Marina parking structure.”
“Adrian?”
“Gone.”
“Any evidence?”
Rowan held up an evidence photograph.
Blood on driver's seat.
Not much.
But enough to raise a new possibility.
Adrian might not be running.
Someone might be silencing the man who knew every family's secrets.
May you like
And Nolan, Lucinda, and Marcus were all in custody.
Which meant at least one person in Adrian's larger operation was still free.
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