Chapter 17 - THE FORTY-FOURTH FAMILY
Arthur gave the note to investigators rather than answering Diana. She eventually provided the location through her lawyer: a rented safety deposit box in Plano. Officers recovered a witness list and the original investment prospectus.
There were forty-four names on the list. The public court record had included forty-three.
The last name belonged to Thomas Keene, a retired electrician who had invested the proceeds from selling his repair shop. He'd died before Victor's plea agreement and had no surviving spouse. His daughter, Lauren, had moved away after creditors emptied his accounts.
“Why wasn't he counted?” Arthur asked Sloane.
“The entry was removed before prosecutors got the final schedule,” she said. “We're looking at who had access.”
Lauren Keene was now a public-school principal in Tulsa. She agreed to a video call, though she made it clear she didn't want charity.
“My father worked forty years,” she told Arthur. “He trusted men in suits because he believed contracts meant something.”
Arthur didn't offer an excuse. “The independent audit shows he may have been omitted from restitution. We want counsel to review what he's owed.”
Lauren's face remained guarded. “You can't buy back his last years.”
“No,” Arthur said. “I won't pretend we can.”
After the call, Evelyn sat quietly for a long time. “Victor visited Thomas before he died. He came home sick with shame. I remember asking what happened, and he said he'd looked at the cost of his choices.”
She asked Arthur to open a new account independent of Sterling family control. A professional trustee would oversee recovery payments, with claimant representatives able to examine the records.
Arthur agreed, then took Victor's letters to a desk and wrote his own message to each family. He didn't use a publicist.
Just before midnight, Moreno called with the first formal charges against Roland relating to the recent threats and fraud investigation.
May you like
“But there's something else,” she said. “One of the old files identifies the person who helped erase Thomas Keene.”
