"You don't need to worry about your safety, until all the suspects are in custody, your room is being guarded. Twenty four seven." He caught himself, the slip he had made, and he tried to apologize, but the damage was done.
"What exactly are you saying Agent Oliver?" Jack spat out, his words deceptively calm.
"Unfortunately Maddison Fields, aka Maddie McKenzie has escaped and we have been unable, as yet, to locate her."
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Nate threw the newspaper down on the table beside him. It had been a week since the fiasco of the Homecoming Pep Rally and although his stepfather's plan had imploded spectacularly before he had even had the chance to finish his grand reveal, the town and more importantly Nate's family were still feeling the aftershocks.
Silver Glade continued to make headlines, there were news crews and journalists prowling the streets, looking for someone, anyone, to talk, and when that failed they filled their reports and articles with speculation and blatant lies.
Every day he and his legal team; headed by Victoria, worked to try and untangle the chaos that had been left behind by Charles Sinclair. The layers to the conspiracy went so much deeper than they had previously thought.
The sheer volume of people who were caught up was beyond anything that he or his grandfather had ever imagined; the reach of his stepfather and his minions more widespread than they had known. There was a team from the F.B.I agents working with state police and other alphabet agencies, all trying to root out the full extent of Charles Sinclair's web of lies.
High ranking officials including judges, a state senator and two thirds of the Silver Glade legal department had all been involved, some in a voluntary capacity happy to claim their rewards, others had been ensnared when bad choices they had made in the past were used against them. Some had been set up, had been specifically targeted so that when needed they had no way to refuse the demands of Sinclair or his minions.
There were the businessmen who had willingly invested in his stepfather, who had believed that Charles Sinclair could fulfill his promises to double or triple their investment. There were trust funds that had seemed limitless, until greed had decimated them, or they had to be used in the hopes of keeping Sinclair quiet about whatever leverage he had on them.
As it turned out, no amount of money would be enough to prevent their lives being ruined.
Just that morning two banks, one in Silver Glade and one in the university town where his stepfather had grown up had collapsed, the bank managers having been caught up in the madness. Accounts had been set up for people who only existed on paper, substantial loans had been given and the lack of repayments buried. Nate already had suspicions about second and third mortgages being taken out using his family home as collateral, bank officials overlooking the fact that neither his mother or stepfather owned the house.
The bank manager in Silver Glade had tried to claim that he had been coerced into his actions, that there was no way that he could have spoken out. Unfortunately for him the F.B.I had found two bank tellers who had made official complaints that had been ignored at a local level.
There was a clear paper trail all the way to the headquarters of the bank who were only too happy to share the information they had gathered as part of their ongoing investigation into irregularities at the Silver Glade branch.
Apparently the bank manager, somewhat inspired by Charles Sinclair, had decided to create a rainy day fund for himself. Since he was not the brightest bulb, this had been easily found and was now being used as incentive to help the agents with their investigation.
The second bank manager had been blackmailed into compliance, and had kept records of all the transactions he had been forced to carry out. He had tried to raise the alarm without Sinclair finding out; flagging accounts as suspect, but this had been discovered. A couple of henchmen had paid him a visit one evening after work, reminding him, through a vicious beating, what happened to those who betrayed Charles Sinclair.
There were a number of such cases, people who had tried to get out, tried to alert the authorities to what was going on, but Sinclair always seemed to find out, and the retribution was swift and brutal. They were used as examples to others who might be wavering, or questioning some of the more extreme demands made of them.
Fear was a weapon that was wielded with great effect, and there was enough evidence to show that if the first visit wasn't enough to convince them, the follow up, with a family member, usually did the trick.
The one group who had, so far stayed out of the media glare, were those with long established ties to organized crime. When the first trickle of stories had hit the local news stations, an intermediate had reached out.
There were debts that were owed, but they wanted to let Nate know, that they did not expect him to take responsibility. They had the resources needed to find alternative methods of repayment, and Nate need not worry about any of his family being harmed.
As Silver Glade began to garner even more attention, and further details emerged about just how diabolical Sinclair truly was, a new message was sent to say that they were forgiving any mention of Amelia on the loan paperwork.
They might be criminals, but they had standards. Nate was just relieved that they were no longer a cause for concern, he'd had enough unannounced visitors to last him a lifetime.
The door to the conference room opened, making him look up. He watched as some of the firm's interns brought in more boxes, adding them to the growing numbers already in the room. Victoria walked in behind them, a tray of take away coffees in her hand.
"Okay everyone take your drinks, get some fresh air and be back here in thirty minutes." Her words were greeted with smiles of thanks, and the interns were gone.
"I thought you said you wouldn't read the papers?" Victoria sounded concerned.
"Someone left it here and I couldn't help myself." He paused understanding her worry.
The first time he had seen some of the more lurid headlines he'd had a hard time reigning in his temper. In his defense it was shortly after he'd left Grace at the hospital and his anxiety was at an all time high.
"The standard of journalism leaves a lot to be desired these days." Victoria's comment made Nate smile. She was definitely not a fan of the many articles that focused on the scandal and not the truth.
"I was in the room when you called that editor, and how emphatically you got your point across in that conversation."
He had watched in awe as his lawyer had delivered a statement to the press, giving the most relevant details before sternly warning that the firm would take every legal avenue open to them, should any member of the press approach the hospital Grace was in, or try to gain access to his mother.
Just thinking about his mother wiped the smile from his face. He hadn't seen her, had been advised that it was better for Amelia, and for Nate himself not to be with her just then.
When the state police had first gone to the house to speak with his mother; to tell her that her husband had been injured while in the act of committing a crime, the house had looked as if it was deserted. There was no response to the doorbell, and with the curtains all drawn they had just assumed that she was not there.
It was only when they returned with a warrant, that Amelia had been found, locked in her suite of rooms, in a catatonic state. As a parting gift, her husband had given her a large dose of drugs that had somehow not killed her, but left her with life changing injuries, and even now recovery was not guaranteed.
"There was no change overnight Nate, I spoke with the doctor earlier. She is stable but still unresponsive."
"And the care home that her doctor recommended? How long will that take to organize?" His voice was strained, as he ran through his mental checklist of things relating to his mother's care.
"There are a few small details to finalize, some signatures are needed and then as soon as the doctor believes it is safe, your mother will be transferred. The guardianship
was approved, the additional security is in place, every member of staff has been vetted." He watched as she double checked her notes.
"Thank you, for helping me with all this." The words really weren't enough, not for how Victoria had dedicated so much extra time to ensure that Amelia would be taken care of.
"You never have to thank me Nate. I hope you know that this is more than just a job to me. I will do what has to be done to keep you and your family safe and protected."
He nodded his head in acknowledgment of what she had said, not quite trusting himself to speak just then. His emotions were all over the place, the events of the past week a constant source of stress that he couldn't quite keep on top of. He felt guilty for what had happened to his mother, but still unable to forgive her for the past.
With the arrangements Victoria had made, what should have been his burden to carry, had been given to someone else. Someone who would act in his mother's best interests, who would get her the help she needed, allowing Nate to focus on others.
"I have also had a call from Agent Oliver. He says your follow up interview needs to happen soon, preferably this afternoon." He had been impressed with the agent who had been assigned to lead the case. Their first meeting had been brief, but it was the follow up that Nate was not looking forward to, so he had been making excuses, and now it seemed as if his time was up.
"Set it up for this afternoon please," he decided he may as well get the ordeal over with.
"Of course. You might be interested to know that he said he had no problems if you wanted someone to sit in with you. Someone other than a legal adviser." Now that was interesting indeed. The first official meeting had been with the agent and a state cop, plus Nate and Victoria. However that was not the first time that Nate had met Agent Oliver.
Two of Sinclair's henchmen had burst into the hospital waiting room, making an outlandish statement. Jack, once he had stopped laughing had gone to see Grace, knowing that his mother was more than capable of dealing with this particular set of fools. Mimi certainly didn't disappoint; as usual Ms Riley was full of surprises...
"Margaret Patrice Riley, you are under arrest for attempted murder." Silence greeted the words, although the look on Mimi's face spoke volumes, as did the peel of laughter that rang out in the room. Nate vaguely recognized their faces, to the best of his knowledge they were fairly low down the ranks of the henchmen, only newly recruited by Joey Camden.
"When will you boys ever learn? In case you missed what happened earlier, your boss failed. Spectacularly. Publicly crashed and burned." Mimi was enjoying herself.
"We are employed by the Silver Glade Police Department, and have been instructed by the local A.D.A to arrest you on suspicion of attempted murder."
"Just where have you boys been hiding this evening? Was it under a rock? Because Brad was arrested and is on his way to county lock up." He enjoyed the look of confusion that crossed their faces. Obviously they were not in proper communication with the rest of their cronies.
"With all due respect Ms Riley, we collected the warrant a few hours ago and were unable to serve it as you were not at home. It took us some time to find you, what with all the drama at the school."
This made little sense to Nate, just what was going on. The last thing they needed was to be distracted by such trivial matters.
"Might I see the warrant then?" Though polite there was no missing that Mimi was not actually asking, rather insisting, and the officer was suddenly very eager to hand it over. He watched as she read through the document.
"Ms Riley," the officer began, his voice adopting what he probably thought was a polite tone. "You have to understand that we are only following instructions from our superiors. It's not personal."
"And you both need to understand that you are merely pawns, and the sooner you realize that, and start cooperating the better things will go for you."
There was a knock on the door and two men walked in, one Fed and one trooper and Mimi quickly filled them in on what had happened. The Silver Glade officers were escorted from the room by the trooper, the other who had introduced himself as Agent Oliver stayed. He needed to speak privately with Mimi, before Nate was interviewed.
"I know how this works Agent, but we need to wait until my granddaughter's condition is stable."
"There is the small matter of Mr McGinley's injuries?" The agent kept his voice low, but Nate still heard the surprise in the man's tone.
"Is it really so hard to believe that someone of my tender years can defend myself?" Mimi asked. "Or that someone like McGinley who spends most of his time sitting on his behind, would hold the mistaken belief that he can attack a lady and not face the consequences for having underestimated her?"
"It has been suggested by some of my colleagues that some of your methods of defense are not what one would usually expect from an ordinary citizen." The agent was choosing his words carefully, and Nate saw the mischievous twinkle in Mimi's eye.
"My dear boy, I'm not entirely sure I know what you mean. However once I know that my granddaughter is stable I guess I could give you some information about those who instructed me. Not that I will be able to say much, and it will have to stay private. More for your sake than mine." A look of understanding crossed the agent's face, and he quickly agreed to return when Grace was out of danger.
"There is so much more to you than meets the eye, isn't there?" Nate heard the wonder in his own words.
"Child, you have no idea." She winked at him.
"Can I just ask?" He began and at Mimi's nod of encouragement he continued. "Just how hurt is Dylan's dad?"
"I imagine he will be pretty sore for a while, but the bones broke cleanly so he should recover in time. He should count himself lucky I only had my walking stick with me." Again there was that twinkle in her eye, and Nate hoped that some time in the future they would be able to continue the conversation.
The sound of his phone buzzing pulled him back from his memory, and with a smile he saw the lady in question's name on his screen.
"I was just thinking of you," he said answering the phone.
"Good things I hope." Mimi replied, her words laced with humor. "Are you still at the office in the city?"
They had a brief discussion about the latest update from Grace's doctors who were hoping that she would be well enough in a few days to be released.
"The good news is that once you have your interview this afternoon you can go see Grace in person." Nate was not surprised that Mimi knew that he was to meet with Agent Oliver. He focused on the fact that he would soon be properly reunited with Grace.
"Stop daydreaming child! I shall see you in an hour, so please try and stay out of trouble." With these parting words she ended the call, not giving him the chance to respond.
It wasn't lost on him that Mimi had decided to be there for the interview, and he was glad that he would have the backing of two strong, capable women.
"Do I need to push anything back?" Victoria asked as she reentered the room. He shook his head in the negative.
"I don't think that we have anything to worry about with this particular agent, but Ms Riley will ensure that he behaves himself." His lawyer winked at him, though her respect for Mimi was clear in her voice.
They heard the approach of footsteps and then a knock at the door as the group of interns returned. He watched as they received their instructions from Victoria, none seeming put out by the workload or how they would probably have yet another late night at the office.
The next hour was spent going through more paperwork, trying to help expand the time line of his stepfather's activities in Silver Glade and beyond, while also figuring out the roles played by certain of his minions.
It was only when Mimi announced her presence by knocking on the window of the conference room that they realized how much time had passed. Victoria moved to where she stood, the two women having a brief catch up, neither looking overly happy when it was over. He was im
mediately on edge, but before he could ask any questions, Victoria spoke.
"Ms Riley has arranged for some refreshments to be delivered. It's all been set up in the conference room on the floor below us. So if you can just tidy up what you've been working on, go have some food, and then you can all go home for the evening. You will all need to be back here at seven tomorrow morning. It will be a very busy day so I'll need you all to bring your A game."
He was trying to figure out what had happened, or was going to happen, but he helped with the clean up, the boxes all stacked and then securely locked up for the time being. He thanked each person as they left the room, and then turned to Mimi and Victoria. A multitude of scenarios ran through his head, none of them good.
"How bad is it?" He whispered the words, dreading what he might hear. Mimi was by his side in an instant.
"I'm so sorry for worrying you. We just wanted some privacy to talk about a few things before the interview takes place." Nate felt the tension leave his body.
"We were able to speak with both Dylan and Luke. They have given their full, signed statements to the agents. As they have cooperated and given as many details as possible, as well as pointing the agents to where Mr McGinley had kept a hidden safe, we are confident they won't face any charges."
"Do we know how Luke became involved?" This was something that Nate had been curious about, especially as the other boy's name had never appeared in any of his searches relating to his stepfather and his henchmen. Mimi and Victoria exchanged another look.
"That is something that Luke wishes to speak to you about in person. In fact both he and Dylan have asked if you would be willing to talk to them."
"Is that possible, from a legal standing, so as not to derail the investigation?" In spite of his curiosity, his priority remained seeing his stepfather and associates prosecuted and punished.
Chasing Shadows Page 30