Chapter 12 - The Archive
The Sterling archive occupied the basement of our old downtown headquarters.
Nobody used it anymore.
Paper records, dead servers, boxed contracts from before everything went digital.
Ortiz got a warrant while I stayed with Briar and the baby.
My father was transferred to the same hospital under police protection.
When I walked into his room, he was awake.
"You named him after me?" he asked.
"Don't get sentimental. Briar picked James."
He smiled weakly.
Then I told him what Maris had said about the archive.
His smile vanished.
"Victor's audit."
"What audit?"
"I found missing pension money. Thirty-two million dollars. Victor blamed a controller who later died in a car crash. I didn't believe it."
"You confronted him?"
"I confronted your mother first."
He looked ashamed.
"She was having an affair with him."
The words hit harder than I expected.
"How long?"
"I don't know. Long enough for him to convince her I was trying to destroy the family."
My father rubbed his wrist where an old restraint scar crossed the skin.
"The night I disappeared, Victor invited me to the marina to talk. I remember a drink. Then I woke up at North Pines."
"And Mom visited you."
"Every week. Sometimes she cried. Sometimes she told me if I signed over the trust, I could come home."
"Did you?"
"Never."
He looked toward the window.
"That's why they needed you."
My stomach tightened.
"The forged signature."
"Victor couldn't take full control without both of us."
Ortiz called an hour later.
They had reached the archive.
Too late.
A fire had started in the records room.
Sprinklers contained it, but dozens of boxes were destroyed.
"Did you find anything?" I asked.
"One fireproof cabinet survived."
Paper rustled over the phone.
"Inside was an audit report signed by Henry Sterling. It names Victor Dane as the recipient of shell-company transfers."
I closed my eyes.
Then Ortiz added, "There's also a photograph clipped to it."
May you like
"Of what?"
"Your mother handing Victor the original trust seal."
