Chapter 16 - The Man in the Parking Garage
Mark was arrested at 6:12 the next morning.
Two detectives approached him outside his apartment building.
He did not resist.
He barely understood the accusation.
“Corporate data theft? I haven’t touched Hawthorne’s system in years.”
At the station, Raymond Sterling entered the interview room.
Mark stared at him.
“You think I did this?”
“I think your credentials were used.”
“I didn’t do it.”
Raymond opened a folder.
“Remote login from a laptop associated with an account registered under your name.”
“I don’t own a laptop.”
“You did.”
Mark froze.
His old company-issued MacBook.
The one he had surrendered after termination.
“Where is it?”
Raymond watched him carefully.
“I gave it to HR.”
Hawthorne Capital searched its storage inventory.
The laptop was missing.
Security footage eventually revealed who removed it.
Richard Sloan.
Emily received the call while standing in her kitchen.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Mark had been telling the truth.
Again.
That did not erase his past.
But it mattered.
Richard disappeared before authorities could question him.
His car was found inside an airport parking garage.
His phone was abandoned in the center console.
For eighteen hours, nobody knew where he was.
Then Emily received a call from an unknown number.
“Mrs. Hawthorne?”
The voice was Richard’s.
Emily put the call on speaker.
Thomas and Raymond began recording.
“Where are you?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“What do you want?”
“What was mine.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed.
“The company?”
“My father built half that company beside your grandfather. The Hawthornes took credit. Your family took control. Then you walked in after years of doing nothing and became some public hero.”
Emily remained calm.
“You forged federal evidence because you were jealous?”
“I forged nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
Richard laughed.
“You sound like your grandfather.”
“That’s supposed to frighten me?”
“It should.”
Then his tone changed.
“There are things about William Hawthorne you don’t know.”
Emily’s stomach tightened.
“You’re running out of leverage, Richard.”
“No.”
He laughed again.
“I’m just beginning to use it.”
The line disconnected.
Raymond immediately ordered a trace.
Thomas contacted federal investigators.
David entered from the hallway after ensuring the girls were upstairs with Clara.
“What happened?”
Emily repeated the conversation.
David’s expression darkened.
“Why would he bring up your grandfather?”
Arthur Pendelton provided the answer.
He arrived at the estate before noon carrying an old leather briefcase.
“There’s something I should have told you years ago,” Arthur said.
Emily almost groaned.
“I am becoming extremely tired of that sentence.”
Arthur looked ashamed.
“Your grandfather discovered accounting irregularities shortly before his death.”
Emily stared at him.
“What kind?”
“Pension transfers.”
The same transactions Richard had forged.
“He suspected someone inside the company was stealing using his authorization codes. He never proved who.”
“Richard’s father?”
Arthur slowly nodded.
“Possibly.”
Emily sat down.
The entire conspiracy suddenly looked different.
Richard was not merely trying to frame her grandfather.
He was trying to bury evidence that his own father may have stolen millions.
Thomas’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression immediately sharpened.
“We found Sloan.”
“Where?”
“Parking structure beneath the old Carter Financial headquarters.”
Emily stood.
Thomas held up a hand.
“There’s more.”
Security cameras showed Richard carrying two gasoline cans into the building.
The archived paper records were still stored in the basement.
He was going to destroy them.
Emily grabbed her coat.
David blocked the door.
“No.”
“I’m going.”
“Absolutely not.”
“My grandfather’s records are in there.”
“And your daughters are upstairs.”
That stopped her.
David stepped closer.
“You don’t prove strength by running into every fire yourself.”
Emily looked toward the staircase.
He was right.
Again.
She called Thomas.
“Send the police. Secure the records.”
Then she remained home.
It was one of the hardest decisions she had ever made.
At 2:04 p.m., authorities arrested Richard Sloan beside the archive room.
The gasoline had already been poured.
One match would have erased decades of history.
But among the recovered boxes was a sealed audit file bearing William Hawthorne’s handwriting.
Inside was evidence naming Richard’s father.
And one sentence written across the final page:
If anything happens to me, protect Emily from these men.
Emily read those words twice.
May you like
Then she closed her eyes and cried for the grandfather who had apparently been protecting her long after death.
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