Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO FOLLOWED ARTHUR
Victor Hale was impossible to find.
Every trail ended in another company.
Every company ended in another trust.
Every trust led nowhere.
Arthur had hidden him carefully.
But Arthur was no longer protecting Victor.
So federal investigators reopened the case.
They found something surprising.
Victor had funded Garrick's education.
His first business.
His wedding.
Even Sabrina's company.
Everything.
Garrick had never truly been independent.
He had been guided.
Trained.
Prepared.
I felt sick.
My son hadn't simply become greedy.
Someone had cultivated his weakness.
But that didn't excuse him.
A person could be influenced.
Not controlled forever.
I asked Harris to let me speak to Garrick.
He agreed.
We met in prison.
Garrick looked older.
“I heard you found another ledger.”
I stared at him.
“You knew.”
He nodded.
“Victor.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That the family fortune was mine.”
“He promised me everything.”
“And you believed him.”
“I was twenty.”
“You were thirty when you stole my money.”
He looked away.
“I know.”
“Why did you let Sabrina treat me like that?”
“Because I wanted her to love me.”
I stared.
“You sacrificed your mother for your wife's approval.”
“I was weak.”
“Yes.”
He cried.
But I felt nothing.
Not anger.
Not satisfaction.
Just sadness.
“Where is Victor?”
“I don't know.”
“What did he want?”
“The trust.”
“Only that?”
Garrick looked at me.
“No.”
“What else?”
“You.”
I froze.
“Me?”
“He wanted your signature.”
“For what?”
“A private transfer.”
“Of what?”
“The entire Vance estate.”
I closed my eyes.
Victor had planned beyond Arthur.
Arthur had wanted the estate.
Victor wanted everything around it.
He had used Arthur.
Arthur used Garrick.
Garrick used my trust.
It was a chain.
And I was the final link.
Garrick gave me one piece of information.
“He has a property outside Dallas.”
“Where?”
“Old military road.”
“That’s all?”
“And he always uses the same phrase.”
“What phrase?”
“Building seventeen.”
The same number.
B-17.
I left the prison.
Harris was waiting.
“Did he tell you?”
“Yes.”
“Building seventeen?”
“Yes.”
He looked at the documents.
May you like
“We know it.”
“Then we go.”
