Chapter 6 - lucas finally tells the truth)
The standoff lasted fourteen minutes.
Aaron remembered every second.
Calvin held Lucas against his chest while police negotiators spoke from outside.
Rain blew through the broken windows.
Lucas's face was gray.
Calvin's hand shook.
Aaron stood six feet away, trying not to make any sudden movement.
"You don't have to do this," Aaron said.
Calvin laughed.
"You're talking to the wrong person."
"You can walk out."
"No one walks out of this anymore."
Lucas whispered, "He knows."
Calvin jerked him backward.
"Stop talking."
Aaron looked at his brother.
"What do I know?"
Lucas's eyes filled.
"Everything Dad found."
Calvin's jaw tightened.
"Lucas."
"My mother didn't start Bellweather."
Aaron frowned.
Lucas continued.
"Calvin did."
Calvin raised the weapon.
A police sniper fired.
The shot struck Calvin's shoulder.
The pistol fell.
Lucas dropped to the floor.
Officers rushed in.
Aaron was pushed against a wall while Calvin screamed and police restrained him.
Lucas crawled away.
When the room finally stabilized, Aaron stared down at his brother.
Lucas was crying.
Not from fear.
From exhaustion.
Aaron said, "Tell them everything."
Lucas nodded.
At the station, he did.
The interview lasted almost six hours.
Aaron watched part of it through one way glass.
Lucas admitted Bellweather began as an investment company created by Calvin.
Lucas had been twenty one and desperate to prove himself.
He invested money he did not have.
When the investment failed, he borrowed secretly from Thomas's company.
He intended to replace it.
Instead, he lost that too.
Calvin threatened to expose him.
Florence discovered the problem.
She did not tell Thomas.
She expanded it.
According to Lucas, Florence realized Bellweather could be used to move money without Thomas immediately noticing.
What began as covering Lucas's theft became a long term scheme.
Thomas eventually discovered it.
On December 18, he followed Lucas to meet Calvin.
Thomas confronted them.
Lucas panicked and drove away.
He sideswiped Thomas's car.
Thomas obtained some of the documents they had been carrying.
Florence was furious.
The next day Thomas became violently ill.
Lucas confronted his mother.
She told him she had only given Thomas something to make him sleep.
"I believed her," Lucas said.
Ortiz asked, "For how long?"
Lucas looked down.
"Until Dad died."
The night Thomas died, Lucas had gone to his parents' house.
Thomas was sitting in the study.
Florence brought him tea.
Lucas saw her empty powder from a capsule into the cup.
He asked what it was.
She told him it was Thomas's heart medication.
Later that night Thomas collapsed.
Lucas knew immediately.
"Why didn't you call police?" Ortiz asked.
Lucas began crying.
"Because I had stolen from Dad. Mom said if I accused her, she'd tell everyone I poisoned him because he discovered the money."
Aaron stared through the glass.
Twelve years.
Lucas had chosen silence for twelve years.
Ortiz asked, "Why help her now with Maya?"
Lucas wiped his face.
"She said Aaron was going to uncover Bellweather."
"So you imprisoned his wife and child?"
"I didn't think it would go that far."
Aaron almost entered the room.
The investigator beside him stopped him.
Lucas continued.
"Mom said we only had to scare Maya into signing."
"You took her phone."
"Yes."
"You helped lock food away."
Lucas looked sick.
"Yes."
"You removed door handles."
"Yes."
"Did you threaten to take Chloe?"
Lucas covered his face.
"Yes."
Aaron left the viewing room.
He could not listen anymore.
Maya called.
"Did he confess?"
Aaron stood in the police hallway.
"Yes."
"To what?"
"Everything except killing Dad."
"Do you believe him?"
Aaron looked through the glass window in the door.
Lucas sat with his head down.
"I believe he's telling the truth now."
Maya was quiet.
"That doesn't erase what he did to us."
"I know."
"He made Chloe afraid of doors."
Aaron closed his eyes.
"I know."
The difference between understanding and forgiveness had never felt clearer.
Lucas could be sorry.
He could help police.
He could expose Florence.
And Aaron could still refuse to save him from consequences.
Ortiz stepped into the hall.
"We found your mother."
Aaron straightened.
"Where?"
"Airport hotel."
"Is she arrested?"
"Not yet."
"What?"
"She's not there anymore."
Aaron stared.
Ortiz handed him a printed security image.
Florence was entering a hotel elevator.
Beside her stood a woman Aaron recognized.
He had not seen her in years.
Her name was Evelyn Shaw.
She had been Thomas Mercer's private attorney.
The attorney who had supposedly retired six months before Thomas died.
Aaron looked at Ortiz.
"What is she doing with my mother?"
Ortiz's expression was grim.
"We were hoping you could tell us."
Aaron remembered his father's video.
He intended to divorce her. I had an attorney prepare everything.
Evelyn had been that attorney.
Which meant she knew Thomas wanted to leave Florence.
And if she had helped Florence afterward, then Thomas's hidden evidence might not be the only version of the estate plan.
Ortiz's phone rang.
She answered.
Her face changed almost immediately.
"What?"
Aaron waited.
Ortiz ended the call.
"Someone just accessed your father's trust account."
Aaron's pulse jumped.
"How much?"
"All of it."
"That's impossible."
"Apparently not."
"Where did it go?"
Ortiz stared at him.
"An offshore account."
Aaron felt the final piece begin moving into place.
May you like
Florence was not running because she was afraid of prison.
She was running because she believed she could still win.
