Chapter 7 - THE WOODEN AIRPLANE)
Elena confronted Adrian in the hospital parking garage.
Leo remained upstairs with Margaret and two state troopers.
Arthur slept under medical supervision.
Adrian leaned against a concrete pillar.
“You think I used you.”
“Yes.”
“I did.”
The admission angered her more than denial would have.
“You knew about Room 17.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Michael had left evidence.”
“Yes.”
“And you thought I could lead you to it.”
“Yes.”
Elena slapped him.
The sound echoed through the garage.
Adrian accepted it.
“You deserved that.”
“One.”
“What?”
“That was one. You don’t know how many more you deserve.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
“Did Michael die because he was trying to meet you?”
“Yes.”
Elena’s voice broke.
“And you never told me.”
“I was told to stay away.”
“By whom?”
“Michael.”
She stopped.
Adrian reached into his jacket.
Elena stepped backward.
He slowly removed an envelope.
Old.
Creased.
Her name was written across it.
Michael’s handwriting.
Elena could not breathe.
“When did he give you this?”
“Two weeks before he died.”
“Why?”
“He said if anything happened, I should wait.”
“For three years?”
“He gave me conditions.”
“What conditions?”
Adrian recited them.
“Victor attempts to obtain Leo’s trust. Arthur becomes incapacitated under questionable circumstances. Or Elena is pressured to return to Sterling House.”
All three had happened.
Elena took the envelope.
Her hands trembled.
“Why didn’t you give me this on the bus?”
“Because I wasn’t sure Victor’s men weren’t watching your hands.”
She opened it.
Inside was one sheet.
Elena,
If Adrian is giving you this, then I failed to solve something before it reached you.
First, I am sorry.
Second, trust your instincts before you trust anyone with my last name.
Third, Leo’s airplane is more important than it looks.
Do not open it inside our house.
Take it somewhere public.
If the red card is still inside, give it to Adrian only after he tells you what happened in Geneva.
If he refuses, walk away.
I love you.
I love Leo.
Whatever they tell you, remember that I was trying to come home.
M.
Elena read the letter twice.
Then looked at Adrian.
“What happened in Geneva?”
His expression became grim.
“I hoped he wouldn’t include that.”
“Tell me.”
Adrian looked toward the empty ramps.
“Michael and I followed a transfer from Sterling Advanced to a shell company.”
“Meridian?”
“No. Something older.”
“What?”
“Cresswell Holdings.”
Elena had never heard the name.
“In Geneva, we met an accountant who claimed Cresswell had been moving money for members of the Sterling family for twenty years.”
“Victor?”
“Some transactions involved him.”
“Some?”
Adrian hesitated.
“Some involved Arthur.”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
“No.”
“I’m telling you because Michael told me to.”
“What happened to the accountant?”
“He disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“His apartment was empty the next morning. Bank account closed. Employment records vanished.”
“And Arthur?”
“I never proved he knew.”
Elena thought of the old man upstairs.
Arthur had confessed to choosing Victor over Michael.
Was that guilt enough to explain everything?
“What did Michael think?”
“He believed the Lazarus fraud was part of something larger.”
“Cresswell?”
“Yes.”
“What is Cresswell?”
“I still don’t know.”
Elena folded Michael’s letter.
“Then you get the card.”
Adrian looked surprised.
“You trust me?”
“No.”
She placed the letter in her pocket.
“I trust Michael’s instructions.”
They left St. Catherine’s before dawn with state police protection.
Elena’s house sat in a quiet neighborhood outside Ashford.
When they arrived, the front door was open.
Her stomach dropped.
Detective Price entered first.
The living room had been destroyed.
Drawers emptied.
Cushions cut.
Books scattered.
Leo’s room was worse.
His desk smashed.
Toy bins overturned.
The wooden airplane was gone.
Leo stood in the doorway.
“No.”
Elena hugged him.
Adrian searched the floor.
“They knew.”
Elena looked at Leo.
“Think carefully. When the wing broke, what did you do with the metal card?”
Leo frowned.
“I put it somewhere safe.”
“Where?”
“I don’t remember.”
Victor’s men had searched the obvious places.
Desk.
Closet.
Toy chest.
Mattress.
Elena crouched.
“Leo, your dad gave you the airplane when you were six.”
“I know.”
“You said the wing broke last year.”
“Yes.”
“What were you doing?”
Leo closed his eyes.
“Flying it.”
“Where?”
“In the backyard.”
“What happened next?”
“It hit the fence.”
“Then?”
“I brought it inside.”
“Where did you fix it?”
His eyes opened.
“The garage.”
Everyone moved.
The garage had also been searched.
Tool drawers open.
Cabinets emptied.
Leo went toward Michael’s old workbench.
Elena had never removed it.
He knelt.
Reached beneath the lowest shelf.
Pulled off a strip of tape.
A tiny red microSD card was stuck underneath.
Adrian exhaled.
Leo smiled.
“I thought Mom would throw it away if she found it.”
Elena laughed once.
Then almost cried.
Detective Price sealed the garage.
They used an offline laptop from the police digital unit.
The card contained one encrypted folder.
Password required.
Adrian tried Michael’s known keys.
Failed.
Leo said:
“Can I try?”
Elena looked at him.
“What password?”
Leo typed.
The folder opened.
Adrian stared.
“What did you enter?”
Leo shrugged.
“Dad’s joke.”
“What joke?”
“Mom always wins.”
Elena looked away for a second.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Financial spreadsheets.
Internal emails.
Lazarus test reports.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
A video folder.
Detective Price opened the latest recording.
Michael appeared onscreen.
The date was one day before his death.
He looked exhausted.
“If you’re seeing this, Victor moved faster than I expected.”
Elena’s heart pounded.
Michael continued.
“Lazarus is not the real reason they need the company.”
Adrian leaned forward.
Michael held up a document.
“Meridian’s acquisition is designed to transfer ownership of fourteen dormant Sterling subsidiaries.”
He listed several names.
The final one made Adrian whisper.
“No.”
Cresswell Holdings.
Michael continued.
“Cresswell does not belong to Victor.”
Elena stared at the screen.
“It belongs to someone who has controlled this family longer than Victor has been alive.”
The video glitched.
Audio distorted.
Michael leaned toward the camera.
“If anything happens to me, do not trust…”
The file corrupted.
The screen froze.
Elena stared at Michael’s face.
“Do not trust who?”
Nobody answered.
Then Detective Price opened the financial directory.
One spreadsheet contained payments.
Victor Sterling.
Sheriff Caldwell.
Dr. Graves.
Three board members.
And one name Elena did not expect.
Margaret Sterling.
May you like
Leo’s great-aunt.
The woman currently sitting in Arthur’s hospital room.
