Chapter 14 - THE CONSERVATORY TRAP
Arthur showed Moreno the message. She instructed him not to respond while investigators determined whether the photograph had been taken recently. The conservatory, an old glasshouse on a Sterling property outside Dallas, was searched that afternoon.
There was no Diana. No Roland. Just a chair, a camera pointed at the doorway, and a speaker wired to a battery. Whoever planned the meeting wanted a recording of Arthur entering alone, probably to make it look as though he'd come to bargain over the missing records.
Malcolm noticed something else: fresh tire tracks leading to a service gate that had been chained for years. A partial plate number from a traffic camera matched a vehicle rented under a Meridian employee's name.
Back at the house, Arthur found Evelyn reading Victor's letters. She held one in her good hand and let him see it.
Mother, I know you want to save me. Please don't use what you have left to buy me an innocent face. Give it to the people I hurt.
“I loved him so much,” Evelyn whispered. “For years I confused loving him with defending him.”
Arthur sat beside her. “Then let's do what he finally asked.”
He hired an independent forensic accountant, Sloane Mitchell, to review all surviving restitution accounts. She found the same pattern across eleven claims: forged recipient signatures, a manufactured court approval stamp, and disbursements to Meridian. That meant the damage wasn't a simple accounting mistake.
Sloane traced a recent withdrawal to a commercial storage facility. Moreno obtained the necessary court authorization to search it. Inside were boxes of copied IDs and a computer storing draft letters that threatened witnesses.
One folder held a planned announcement for a wedding that hadn't happened: Arthur Sterling and Diana Cross to Consolidate Family Assets.
Attached was a draft power of attorney granting Diana control over Arthur's holdings after their marriage.
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His signature had already been forged.
