Chapter 13 - August Said Harrison Was Worse Than HimAugust Pierce returned to Illinois under escort.
He looked nothing like Everett remembered.
Thinner.
White hair.
Stooped shoulders.
But the voice was the same.
Calm.
Legal.
Careful.
He declined formal questioning at first.
Then his attorney proposed cooperation.
August would explain New Harbor and the twins in exchange for consideration.
Prosecutors made no promises.
Everett was allowed to watch part of the interview later.
Moreno began:
“Why did you arrange Sawyer’s placement?”
August folded his hands.
“Because Harrison asked me to.”
There it was.
Direct conflict.
Harrison said August designed it.
August said Harrison ordered it.
“Did Claire consent?”
“Yes.”
“Freely?”
August hesitated.
“She signed.”
“Not the question.”
“She was under significant emotional stress.”
“And medication.”
“Yes.”
“Did Everett consent?”
“No.”
“Did you forge his signature?”
“Yes.”
Everett’s stomach tightened despite already knowing.
“Why?”
“Harrison said Everett would never agree.”
Moreno continued.
“What was New Harbor?”
“A private placement mechanism.”
“Licensed?”
“No.”
“Legal?”
August paused.
“Not always.”
“How many infants?”
“Four.”
“Were all birth parents aware?”
“No.”
The word was horrifying in its simplicity.
“Why?”
“Different circumstances.”
“Money?”
“Sometimes.”
“Blackmail?”
“Once.”
“Hospital coverups?”
“Twice.”
“Sawyer?”
August looked toward the table.
“Family control.”
Everett felt rage.
Not protection.
Control.
Moreno asked:
“Explain.”
“Harrison knew the second child triggered the trust.”
“He also received threats.”
“Yes.”
“Who sent them?”
August smiled faintly.
“I did.”
Everett stood from the observation-room chair.
There.
Finally.
Moreno did not move.
“Why?”
“To frighten Claire.”
“On Harrison’s orders?”
“No.”
“Why frighten her?”
“Because if she took control of Vale Medical, she planned to audit the family office.”
“How did you know?”
“She told me.”
“What were you hiding?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Approximately twenty-two million over twelve years.”
Everett stared.
August had embezzled from Vale Medical through legal vendors and shell consulting companies.
If Claire gained control, she would find it.
“So you threatened her children.”
“Yes.”
“Did you intend to hurt them?”
“No.”
“You separated twins.”
“I used Harrison’s fear.”
Moreno leaned forward.
“How?”
“I showed him the letters.”
“Letters you wrote.”
“Yes.”
“And suggested placing one child secretly.”
“Yes.”
“Why would that protect your theft?”
“If the second heir disappeared, the trust transfer wouldn’t occur in practice.”
“Even though legally it had.”
“Harrison controlled reporting.”
“And what did Harrison get?”
“Continued power.”
A mutually beneficial lie.
August protected stolen money.
Harrison protected control.
Claire lost a son.
Everett lost a son.
Finley lost a brother.
Sawyer lost his birth family.
Moreno asked:
“Did Harrison know you wrote the threats?”
“No.”
“When did he learn?”
“Six years later.”
Everett stopped breathing.
When Claire discovered Sawyer.
“What happened?”
“He confronted me.”
“Why not expose you?”
August laughed.
“Because exposing me exposed him.”
Of course.
Harrison had concealed Sawyer for six years.
Falsified trust reporting.
Allowed Everett to believe his son was dead.
Once he learned August created the original threat, he was trapped by his own crimes.
“What did you demand?”
“Money.”
“The four million.”
“Yes.”
“Blackmail.”
“Yes.”
“Why did Claire die?”
August looked almost annoyed.
“Car accident.”
“You threatened Octavia after.”
“I wanted her afraid.”
“Did you threaten Gideon?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
Gideon’s death was a documented heart attack.
Again, not every death belonged to the conspiracy.
Moreno held up the school photographs.
“Why were you watching Finley and Sawyer?”
August’s face changed.
“Insurance.”
“Against what?”
“Harrison.”
“What could two children do for you?”
“Nothing.”
“Then?”
“Their existence could.”
He looked toward the camera.
As if he knew Everett watched.
“If Harrison turned me in, I would give the boys everything.”
“Everything what?”
“Records.”
“Where?”
August smiled.
“I told Claire where.”
Everett’s pulse jumped.
Claire again.
“What records?”
“The original New Harbor files.”
“Other children?”
“Yes.”
“Financial theft?”
“Yes.”
“Harrison’s role?”
“Yes.”
Moreno leaned closer.
“Where are they?”
August’s smile disappeared.
“If Claire didn’t retrieve them before she died, they are still there.”
“Where?”
He answered:
“Inside the place Everett refuses to enter.”
Everett frowned.
Then understood.
Claire’s studio.
After her death, Everett had closed the room at the rear of the house.
He never went inside.
Couldn’t.
Finley occasionally did.
Bernice? No Bernice here. Maren sometimes aired it out.
Everett’s chest tightened.
August knew something had been hidden there.
“How?”
Moreno asked.
August replied:
“Claire told me she had moved my insurance somewhere her husband would never accidentally find it.”
Everett left the station before the interview ended.
He drove home.
Walked directly upstairs.
Stopped before Claire’s studio door.
Three years.
He had passed it thousands of times.
Never entered.
Now he opened it.
Dust floated through late-afternoon light.
Paint brushes.
Sketchbooks.
Half-finished canvas.
Claire’s old sweater still draped over a chair.
Everett almost broke.
Then Finley appeared behind him.
“Dad?”
Everett turned.
“I’m okay.”
“You never go in here.”
“I know.”
Finley stepped inside.
“Mom hid things.”
Everett looked at him.
“What?”
Finley pointed toward an old wooden easel.
“There.”
Behind the canvas support was a narrow metal compartment.
Everett stared.
“How do you know?”
Finley shrugged.
“I found it when I was seven.”
“What was inside?”
“Nothing.”
Everett opened it.
Empty.
Then Finley added:
“Except the key.”
Everett froze.
“What key?”
Finley ran to Claire’s memory box.
Returned with a brass key Everett had seen dozens of times without asking.
Stamped:
S-218.
August had not hidden the records in Claire’s studio.
May you like
Claire had hidden the key there.
And whatever waited at S-218 had survived for three years.
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