Chapter 5 - the brother on the plane)
Michael Sterling arrived at Kennedy Airport at 7:40 the next morning.
Detective Cole's team watched him step through customs wearing a charcoal coat and carrying only one leather overnight bag.
He looked exhausted.
He also looked exactly like a man expecting to attend his brother's funeral.
Jessica watched the live security feed from a conference room near Luke's ICU.
Michael stopped when two investigators approached him.
His face registered confusion.
Then fear.
He was escorted into a private interview room.
Luke watched from his hospital bed through a secure video connection.
Jessica sat beside him.
"Are you certain?" she asked.
Luke nodded.
"The board meeting ended at six thirty. Michael came into my office after everyone left."
"You knew he was in New York."
"He asked me not to tell anyone."
"Why?"
"He said he was negotiating a private acquisition."
Luke swallowed.
"He poured me sparkling water."
Jessica remembered the broken bourbon glass in their library.
"You didn't collapse until hours later."
"The drug may have been slow acting."
Cole entered the room.
"We searched Michael's bag."
Jessica looked up.
"And?"
"Nothing unusual."
Luke gave a humorless laugh.
"Of course."
Cole folded his arms.
"He claims he left New York Tuesday night before you collapsed."
"He did."
"Flight records confirm it."
Jessica frowned.
"Then why hide that he was here?"
Cole looked at Luke.
"That's what we're going to ask."
Michael appeared on the monitor.
The brothers looked alike enough that strangers sometimes confused old photographs of them.
Luke had always been more controlled.
Michael more charming.
Growing up, Luke carried responsibility.
Michael escaped it.
When Arthur died, Luke inherited leadership of Sterling Holdings.
Michael inherited money and a board seat he rarely used.
It had created distance.
But Jessica had never believed there was hatred between them.
Cole sat opposite Michael.
"Your brother is alive."
Michael stared at him.
"What?"
"Luke is alive."
Michael's mouth fell open.
"No."
Cole waited.
Michael stood so quickly the chair struck the wall.
"Where is he?"
"Sit down."
"Where is my brother?"
"Alive. Under protection."
Michael looked toward the ceiling.
Relief seemed to break through his face.
Then Cole said, "Luke remembers you giving him a drink hours before he collapsed."
The relief vanished.
Michael slowly sat.
Jessica watched every movement.
"I gave him water."
"What was in it?"
"Water."
"You concealed your visit."
"Because I was meeting someone I shouldn't have been meeting."
"Who?"
Michael rubbed both hands over his face.
"My mother."
Jessica looked at Luke.
Luke's expression changed.
Cole asked, "Why?"
"Wendy said she wanted out."
"Out of what?"
Michael hesitated.
"The accounts."
The room became very still.
Michael continued.
"I've known for almost a year that money was being moved. I didn't know how much. I confronted her in June."
"And?"
"She told me Father had cheated her out of what she deserved."
"Did Frank know?"
"Frank designed most of it."
"Why didn't you tell Luke?"
Michael looked ashamed.
"Because I had taken money too."
Luke turned away from the screen.
Jessica touched his arm.
Michael's voice continued.
"Not from the hidden accounts. From Mother. She funded one of my investments. I later realized the money came through the same network."
"So you stayed quiet."
"Yes."
Cole leaned forward.
"Tuesday."
Michael nodded.
"Mother called me. Said Frank had gone too far. Said Luke had discovered everything and Frank wanted to remove him."
"Remove him how?"
"From the company."
"Did she mention Keller?"
"No."
"Pike?"
"Yes."
"Crown?"
Michael went silent.
Cole's eyes sharpened.
"You know that name."
Michael lowered his head.
"I've seen it once."
Jessica moved closer to the screen.
"Where?" Cole asked.
"An email on Mother's phone."
"What did it say?"
Michael closed his eyes as if reconstructing it.
CROWN REQUIRES PERMANENT SUCCESSION.
Luke stared at the monitor.
Jessica felt the meaning settle.
Permanent succession.
Not suspension.
Not removal.
Death.
Cole asked, "Who is Crown?"
"I don't know."
"Why did you give Luke water?"
"Because he'd been drinking coffee for hours and looked terrible."
"Did you leave the bottle?"
"No."
"What happened to it?"
Michael looked confused.
"I threw it in his office recycling bin."
Cole's phone vibrated.
He checked a message.
"Interesting."
"What?"
"The Sterling office cleaning service says your mother's private assistant ordered Luke's office professionally sanitized at six the next morning."
Michael stared at him.
Jessica whispered, "They destroyed the bottle."
Luke shook his head.
"Not necessarily."
Jessica looked at him.
Luke's eyes became more focused.
"My office has two recycling bins."
"So?"
"The cleaning crew always empties the one beside my desk."
He looked at Cole.
"The second one is inside the private conference cabinet."
Michael's brow furrowed.
"I remember throwing it away near the windows."
Luke nodded slowly.
"That's the second bin."
Cole stood.
"We're going to Sterling Tower."
Jessica looked at Luke.
"You stay here."
"No."
"Luke."
"If that bottle is still there, it may tell us whether Michael drugged me."
Jessica held his gaze.
"You're connected to six machines."
Luke looked at his brother on the screen.
"If Michael didn't poison me, somebody used him to deliver it."
May you like
Then he looked at Jessica.
"And that means whoever Crown is may already know we found the old files."
