Chapter 13 - The Name Malcolm Would Not Say)
Police eventually convinced Malcolm to put down the broken glass.
He was taken from the ballroom in handcuffs.
Evelyn followed separately.
The banquet ended shortly after midnight.
Guests left through a corridor lined with reporters.
By morning, the story was everywhere.
Billionaire saved from suspected poisoning by seven-year-old girl.
Whitmore executives detained.
Questions reopen surrounding heir’s fatal crash.
Arthur hated the headlines.
Nia loved one photograph.
It showed her standing beside Simone while Arthur crouched in front of her.
She looked fierce.
“I look taller,” Nia said.
“You were standing on carpet,” Simone replied.
“It was confidence.”
Simone laughed for the first time in two days.
Arthur had given them a private suite away from the press.
He also placed two independent security agents outside.
Not hotel employees.
Simone noticed.
“You don’t trust your own people anymore.”
Arthur stood by the window.
“I’m not sure who my people are.”
Daniel entered.
He was no longer wearing his badge.
Arthur had suspended him pending investigation.
Daniel accepted it without complaint.
“I deserve worse.”
Simone looked at him.
“You helped save us.”
“After helping create the problem.”
Nia studied him.
“Are you bad?”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“Sometimes people do bad things because they’re scared.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
He crouched.
“The answer is I did something wrong. Then I kept doing wrong things because I was afraid telling the truth would cost me everything.”
Nia thought.
“Did it?”
“Probably.”
“Then why tell?”
Daniel looked at Arthur.
“Because eventually you have to decide what kind of person you want to be after the mistake.”
Nia nodded as though that made sense.
Arthur wished adults understood things so easily.
His phone rang.
Police.
He stepped aside.
The toxicology laboratory had issued a preliminary result from the dessert.
A potent research compound had been detected.
Not a standard commercial medication.
The concentration was high enough to create an acute medical emergency and possibly death in an older adult with Arthur’s cardiac history.
Arthur listened silently.
Then he asked, “Was the same compound found in my son’s autopsy?”
The detective hesitated.
“They did not test for it.”
“Can they?”
“Potentially, depending on preserved samples.”
“Do it.”
“We will need legal authorization.”
“You’ll have it.”
Arthur ended the call.
Simone watched him.
“James may finally get the truth.”
Arthur looked at Nia.
“He should have gotten it while he was alive.”
Simone shook her head.
“That part isn’t yours alone.”
Arthur said nothing.
Later that afternoon, Arthur visited Malcolm in police custody with attorneys present.
Malcolm looked twenty years older.
Arthur sat across the table.
“I want the name.”
“No.”
“Evelyn says someone else started the foundation transfers.”
“Evelyn says many things.”
“Is she lying?”
Malcolm looked at the mirrored wall.
“I want protection.”
Arthur’s attorney said, “That is a matter for prosecutors.”
Malcolm laughed.
“Prosecutors cannot protect me.”
“From whom?”
Malcolm looked at Arthur.
“You really don’t know.”
“No.”
“That’s why James died.”
Arthur leaned forward.
“Say the name.”
Malcolm’s eyes filled with fear.
Instead, he asked, “Do you remember the board vote fourteen years ago?”
Arthur frowned.
“Which one?”
“The one where James almost lost his trust shares.”
Arthur remembered.
A family restructuring dispute.
Several directors had argued that James was too young and reckless to retain direct voting control.
Arthur had defended his son.
“What does that have to do with this?”
“Everything.”
“Who arranged it?”
Malcolm looked toward the door.
Then he whispered, “Ask who benefited when James kept the shares.”
Arthur stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
“Malcolm.”
A guard knocked.
Time.
Arthur stood.
Malcolm grabbed his sleeve.
His voice was desperate.
“Do not trust the first confession.”
Arthur looked down.
“What?”
“Evelyn will confess to poisoning you.”
“Why?”
“Because that is safer than telling you why.”
Arthur left the room with more questions than he had brought.
That evening, the detective called.
Evelyn Vale had requested a formal interview.
May you like
She was ready to confess.
Just as Malcolm predicted.
