Chapter 12 - The Photograph
Garrick did not deny visiting the postal store.
He sat across from Elena and Clara in Martin Cole’s conference room the following afternoon. His supervised-release officer occupied a chair near the door.
“I received a message,” Garrick explained. “It said there was evidence connected to Dad.”
“From whom?” Elena asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You followed instructions from an unknown person after everything that happened?”
His face tightened.
“I knew how it looked. That’s why I didn’t contact you.”
“That is precisely why you should have contacted me.”
Garrick lowered his eyes.
The message had instructed him to collect an envelope using a code. When he arrived, he noticed Nora’s neighbor watching from a parked car. Afraid that someone was attempting to make him appear connected to another fraud, he left without taking the envelope.
Victor checked the postal store’s records.
The envelope was still there.
Authorities collected it that evening.
Inside was a typed list of nine elderly property owners. Nora Bell’s name appeared third. Beside each name was an estimated property value, the name of an adult child or caregiver, and a projected date for obtaining financial authority.
Elena’s name appeared at the top.
A black line had been drawn through it.
At the bottom of the page were the initials R.M.
“You understand what this suggests,” Clara said.
Garrick stared at the letters.
“Someone is using Dad’s name.”
“Or something connected to him,” Victor replied.
Nora returned to the center the next morning. When Elena showed her the initials, the older woman became pale.
“I knew Richard Mercer,” she whispered.
Elena had never heard Nora’s name before.
Nora explained that her late husband, Thomas Bell, had owned a small construction company. Nearly twenty years earlier, Thomas had been invited to participate in a senior-housing development outside Austin.
The project collapsed before construction began.
Several investors lost money.
One of them was Richard.
“That cannot be right,” Elena said. “Richard told me every major investment he made.”
“He didn’t invest for profit,” Nora replied. “He was trying to stop the land from being purchased by someone else.”
“Who?”
Nora looked toward the conference-room door before answering.
“A developer named Conrad Pierce.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Nolan Pierce’s father.
According to Nora, Conrad had been buying homes from older owners through relatives who claimed the owners could no longer manage their finances. Thomas discovered falsified assessments and secretly copied several documents.
Richard helped him gather evidence.
Before they could report everything, Thomas’s office was burglarized. The copies vanished, the housing project collapsed, and Conrad threatened to destroy the Bell family financially.
“Richard told us to remain silent,” Nora said. “He promised he would protect the other families himself.”
Elena turned to Victor.
He had been Richard’s accountant during those years.
“You knew about this.”
May you like
Victor did not answer immediately.
That silence was enough.
