Chapter 13 - ADRIAN'S KILLER
Julian placed a flash drive on the table.
"Adrian sent this to me the night he died."
I stared at him.
"You've had it four years?"
"I couldn't decrypt it until last month."
"Convenient."
"Hate me later. Watch it now."
The video showed Adrian in his hotel room.
He looked exhausted.
"If Ethan sees this, something went wrong. Owen Kane has been following me for two days. I think he works for North Crown, but I'm not sure Margaret controls it anymore."
Adrian held up a document.
"Somebody changed the trust protector three years ago. The paperwork is buried. The person actually controlling North Crown is—"
The video glitched.
Then returned.
Adrian looked toward the door.
"Owen's here."
The recording ended.
Mara checked metadata.
Authentic.
Julian said Owen later admitted confronting Adrian.
"He claimed it got out of hand."
"You spoke to my brother's killer?"
"I was trying to get a confession."
"You protected him."
"I followed the money."
I stepped toward him.
Mara moved between us.
"Not now."
Grant decrypted the North Crown amendment.
The trust protector had indeed changed.
Margaret Wren was removed three years before Adrian died.
Replacement:
CHARLES VALE FAMILY OFFICE - SPECIAL DIRECTOR.
The director's name was hidden behind a numbered entity.
Rebecca traced it.
Then stared at the screen.
"No."
"Who?"
She turned the laptop.
GRANT MERCER.
Everyone looked at my best friend.
Grant went white.
"I've never seen that document."
Julian laughed bitterly.
"Now you understand why I didn't trust security."
Grant stepped backward.
Mara raised her gun.
"Do not move."
Then Elena spoke from the doorway.
"That's not his signature."
We all turned.
She pointed at the scanned page.
"Mr. Grant signs the staff checks every Friday. The G is wrong."
Grant stared at her.
She was right.
Someone had forged him into the trust.
Someone wanted us to suspect him.
And the forged document had been created on a computer registered to my father's old executive assistant.
A woman who still worked in Vale House.
May you like
Susan Park.
The event coordinator who designed tonight's ballroom layout.
