Chapter 4 - The Name in the Maintenance Records
Richard Carter looked at the access card and smiled.
"Looking for this?"
Evelyn did not move.
"Give it to me."
Richard stepped into the cabin.
At sixty-eight, he still carried the authority that had intimidated rooms for decades.
Silver hair.
Tailored navy suit.
Measured voice.
He had been Evelyn's mentor after Thomas died.
Or so she had believed.
"You dropped it at breakfast," Richard said.
"Why didn't you return it?"
"I intended to."
Mason watched him.
"After someone used it to open twelve hangars?"
Richard's eyes shifted.
"So this is Mason Reed."
Mason's expression hardened.
"You know who I am."
"Of course."
Evelyn stepped between them.
"Why?"
Richard ignored her.
"You look like Caleb."
Mason's voice dropped.
"You knew my father."
"Very well."
Walter stood.
"Richard, don't."
Richard smiled.
"Walter. Still carrying ghosts in briefcases?"
Evelyn looked toward Randall.
"Call security."
Randall didn't move.
"Randall."
He lowered his eyes.
That told her everything.
"You too?"
Randall swallowed.
"I'm sorry."
Richard sighed.
"Don't be melodramatic, Evelyn. Randall has merely been practical."
"Practical?"
"The company is overleveraged. Our international division is bleeding cash. Tomorrow's board vote will approve the acquisition."
"By Northstar?"
Richard smiled.
"Northstar doesn't acquire anything. It supplies."
"Counterfeit parts."
His smile disappeared.
"You should be careful using words you can't prove."
Walter lifted the ledger.
"We can prove them."
Richard glanced at it.
"Photocopies."
"Originals."
For the first time, Richard's control slipped.
Only for half a second.
Mason saw it.
"So that's what you were carrying," Richard said.
Walter took a step back.
Evelyn moved beside him.
"You sabotaged the jets to kill Walter."
Richard laughed.
"Kill him? Don't be ridiculous."
"Then explain twelve aircraft."
"I can't."
"Sean Mercer can."
Richard's eyes changed.
Evelyn saw it.
He had not known Sean had been caught.
"He's alive," she said.
Richard recovered.
"Good."
"He talked."
That was a bluff.
But it worked.
Richard looked at Randall.
Randall's face tightened.
Richard understood immediately.
"You're lying."
Mason spoke.
"Doesn't matter."
Richard turned.
"Excuse me?"
"You just reacted."
A long silence.
Mason walked toward the open cabin door.
"Daniel."
Daniel understood.
He lifted his phone.
Recording.
Richard's jaw tightened.
"Turn that off."
"No."
"You have no authority—"
"This is a private aircraft owned by Carter Meridian," Evelyn said. "And I'm still CEO until tomorrow."
Richard looked at her.
"Tomorrow."
The word was a threat.
Evelyn had heard dozens like it from competitors.
This one came from family.
That hurt differently.
Richard stepped closer.
"Your father understood survival."
"My father covered up what you did."
"He protected what he built."
"You stole Caleb Reed's technology."
"I negotiated aggressively."
"You stole it."
Richard's face hardened.
"Caleb was brilliant and naive. Those two qualities often coexist."
Mason's fists tightened.
Evelyn saw it and quietly stepped in front of him.
Not to protect Richard.
To protect Mason from giving Richard anything he could use.
Richard noticed.
"Interesting."
"What?"
"An hour ago you were laughing at him."
Evelyn felt shame rise.
Mason said nothing.
Richard continued.
"Now you're defending him."
"I'm defending the truth."
"No. You're panicking because your empire isn't as clean as you thought."
Evelyn held his gaze.
"Maybe it isn't."
Richard smiled.
"At least you're finally learning."
"But if the truth destroys it, then it deserves to be rebuilt."
Richard's smile faded.
Walter looked at her with something close to pride.
Richard turned toward him.
"Thomas said almost the same thing before he died."
Evelyn froze.
"What did you say?"
Richard stopped.
Nobody moved.
"You said you weren't there."
"I wasn't."
"Then how do you know what he said?"
Richard's mouth tightened.
Randall stepped backward.
Walter whispered:
"Richard."
Richard looked toward him.
Evelyn understood.
Her father had not died alone.
"You were there."
Richard said nothing.
"You were in my father's house."
"No."
"You just quoted him."
"He told me earlier."
"When?"
Richard's eyes shifted.
Too late.
Evelyn stepped closer.
"My father called you the night he died."
Richard's face went blank.
Walter spoke quietly.
"He called me first."
Everyone turned.
Walter's voice shook.
"He said Richard was coming over."
Evelyn stared.
"You never told me."
"I was afraid."
"Of what?"
Richard laughed bitterly.
"Of losing his money."
Walter ignored him.
"Your father had decided to disclose everything."
Mason looked up.
"The patent theft?"
"Everything. Northstar. The payments. Caleb's accident. The forged maintenance reports."
Richard's voice sharpened.
"Enough."
Walter continued.
"He wanted to confess publicly."
"Enough!"
This time Richard shouted.
Silence followed.
The mask was gone.
Evelyn stared at the uncle who had taught her how to negotiate contracts, who had walked her down the aisle at a marriage that later failed, who had held her while she cried at her father's funeral.
"What happened that night?"
Richard looked at her.
"Your father was weak."
"What happened?"
"He was going to destroy everything."
"What did you do?"
Richard shook his head.
"Nothing."
Mason spoke.
"Then you won't mind reopening the death investigation."
Richard turned.
"Stay out of family matters."
Mason's stare became cold.
"My family died because of your matters."
Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked toward Mason.
"We found something."
"What?"
"In the maintenance archive."
Richard immediately moved toward the door.
Security officers blocked him.
Evelyn watched his reaction.
"What did they find?"
Daniel answered.
"The original maintenance records from Caleb Reed's test aircraft."
Mason stopped breathing.
"The originals?"
"Paper scans. Hidden under an obsolete project number."
Walter looked stunned.
"Thomas kept them."
Daniel nodded.
"And someone edited the official report."
Mason's voice was barely audible.
"Who?"
Daniel looked at the screen.
"Richard Carter's authorization code."
Richard lunged toward Daniel's phone.
Security caught him.
For the first time all day, Richard looked afraid.
"Those records are false!"
Mason stared at him.
"Then prove it."
"I don't owe you anything."
"You owed my father his name."
Richard laughed bitterly.
"Your father would've destroyed us."
Mason went still.
Not because of the insult.
Because of the tense.
Would have.
As if Richard remembered exactly what Caleb had planned.
"What did he discover?" Mason asked.
Richard's face changed.
Mason stepped closer.
"My father discovered something before he died."
Richard said nothing.
"What?"
Walter suddenly understood.
"The counterfeit parts."
Mason turned.
Walter looked horrified.
"Caleb discovered Northstar before Thomas did."
Richard's silence confirmed it.
Mason's voice shook now.
"He was going to expose you."
Richard stared at him.
Then said the cruelest thing possible.
"He should have kept quiet."
Mason moved.
Evelyn caught his arm.
"Mason."
His muscles were rigid beneath her hand.
"He knows."
"I know."
"He killed my father."
"We don't know that yet."
Mason looked at her.
"You heard him."
"We need proof."
That word saved him.
Proof.
Not revenge.
Not rage.
Proof.
Mason stepped back.
Police sirens sounded beyond the airport gate.
Richard laughed.
"You think this ends with me?"
Evelyn looked at him.
"Who else?"
Richard said nothing.
Randall suddenly ran.
He shoved past a security officer and sprinted toward the service corridor.
Daniel shouted.
Mason followed.
Evelyn kicked off her heels and ran after them.
Randall reached the records office first.
He slammed the door.
Mason arrived seconds later.
Locked.
Smoke curled beneath it.
"He's burning the files!"
Daniel grabbed an extinguisher.
Mason shouldered the door.
Once.
Twice.
It broke.
Smoke poured out.
Randall stood beside a metal trash bin filled with burning documents.
He held something in his hand.
A black flash drive.
Evelyn entered behind Mason.
Randall looked at her.
"I'm sorry."
Then he threw the drive into the flames.
Mason lunged.
May you like
But before he reached it, another hand came through the smoke.
Someone picked up the drive first.
