Chapter 5 - The Man Inside Hayes Logistics
Caleb Merrick entered with both hands visible.
Genevieve waited across the lounge.
“You have sixty seconds.”
Caleb looked twenty years older than he had at the wedding rehearsal.
“Thomas was right about me.”
Eleanor made a broken sound.
Genevieve felt nothing.
Not yet.
“What was he right about?”
“I gave information to Harrison.”
Adrian watched silently.
Genevieve asked, “For how long?”
“Eighteen months.”
“Why?”
Caleb swallowed.
“My son.”
Genevieve remembered Michael Merrick.
College photographs on Caleb's desk.
Then rehab.
Then silence.
“He owed money,” Caleb continued. “A lot. Harrison arranged to make the debt disappear.”
“In exchange for my father's company.”
“No. At first he wanted schedules. Contract information. Board votes.”
“And you gave them.”
“Yes.”
“You betrayed Dad.”
“Yes.”
Caleb did not defend himself.
Genevieve's anger finally arrived.
“You stood beside me at his funeral.”
“I know.”
“You told me he loved me.”
“He did.”
“You hugged my mother.”
Caleb's eyes filled.
“I know.”
Genevieve stepped closer.
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Did you know someone was going to?”
“No.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because Thomas discovered what I was doing three days before he died.”
Genevieve stopped.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“He forgave me.”
That hurt more than she expected.
Caleb's voice broke.
“He told me to help him expose Harrison.”
Adrian gestured toward the pouch.
“And that?”
“I took it at Union Station.”
“You had someone attack Preston?”
“No. I was the one who took it.”
Genevieve looked carefully at him.
The thief had moved too quickly for her to see his face.
“Why?”
“Because someone was following me. I needed them to think I was still working against you.”
“Who?”
Caleb looked toward the windows.
“The person Thomas actually feared.”
Genevieve folded her arms.
“Name.”
Caleb placed the pouch on a table.
“Judge Harrison Witmore wanted Hayes Logistics. He pressured Thomas. He bribed people. He manipulated contracts. But Thomas learned Harrison was being used too.”
“By whom?”
Caleb removed the Rolex.
“He hid something inside this.”
“Natalie said that.”
“The man who entered your apartment didn't know where to look.”
Caleb twisted the crown.
The back opened.
Inside was a narrow strip of microfilm.
Adrian's technician examined it.
“What is this?”
“Copies of old corporate records.”
“How old?”
“Twenty-seven years.”
Genevieve frowned.
“Hayes Logistics barely existed then.”
“Exactly.”
The images were scanned.
One showed the original incorporation documents.
Thomas Hayes owned sixty percent.
A second name owned forty.
Genevieve leaned closer.
“Victor Vale.”
She turned.
Adrian was motionless.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
Genevieve stared at him.
“You knew our fathers were partners?”
“No.”
Caleb looked at Adrian.
“Thomas never told you?”
“My father died when I was nineteen.”
“Thomas bought him out before that.”
Adrian's expression remained controlled, but something had changed.
“Why hide the records?”
“Because Victor Vale didn't sell his shares.”
Adrian looked sharply at Caleb.
“What?”
“The transfer was forged.”
Silence.
Genevieve whispered, “By whom?”
Caleb pointed to another document.
A young attorney had notarized the transaction.
Harrison Witmore.
Adrian stared at the signature.
Genevieve suddenly understood why Thomas had chosen him.
Not because Adrian knew Harrison.
Because Adrian had inherited part of the mystery.
Caleb continued.
“Thomas discovered the forgery two years ago. If exposed, it could invalidate decades of corporate restructuring.”
“Why would Harrison forge it?”
“Because Victor Vale was blocking a port-development agreement Harrison's clients wanted.”
Adrian's voice became cold.
“What happened to my father?”
Caleb looked at him.
“Officially?”
“Yes.”
“Heart attack.”
“And unofficially?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Don't lie.”
“I don't know.”
Genevieve touched Adrian's arm.
He stopped.
Caleb looked grateful.
“Thomas suspected the same network had been operating for decades. Lawyers. investors. officials. executives. Not some dramatic secret society. Just powerful people protecting profitable arrangements.”
Genevieve thought of her father.
One man with principles.
Standing in the way.
“Did Harrison order Dad's death?”
“I don't think so.”
“Why?”
“Because I heard him arguing with someone after Thomas died.”
“Who?”
Caleb looked at Eleanor.
“The man you saw at the warehouse.”
Eleanor whispered, “I only saw his silhouette.”
“You saw more than you realize.”
Caleb removed a photograph.
Security footage.
Grainy.
A man walking toward Thomas's car.
Eleanor leaned closer.
Her face changed.
“I know that coat.”
Genevieve looked at her.
“Whose?”
Eleanor's mouth opened.
Before she could answer, the club doors opened again.
Preston entered.
Adrian's men moved toward him.
Preston raised his hands.
“I came alone.”
Genevieve glared.
“You put a tracker in the drive.”
“What?”
“Don't.”
“I didn't.”
Caleb stared at Preston.
Then his face drained of color.
“Where did you get that drive?”
“My father's office.”
“Which desk?”
“Private study.”
Caleb closed his eyes.
“That wasn't Harrison's drive.”
Preston frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Caleb looked at Genevieve.
“Harrison's study was searched yesterday.”
“By whom?”
“The man who has been using him.”
Preston's phone rang.
He checked the screen.
DAD.
Everyone fell silent.
“Answer it,” Genevieve said.
Preston put it on speaker.
“Father?”
A strained voice came through.
“Preston.”
Judge Witmore sounded frightened.
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“You're with Genevieve.”
Preston looked at her.
Harrison continued.
“Listen carefully. Everything you think you know about Thomas is wrong.”
Genevieve stepped toward the phone.
“Judge Witmore.”
Silence.
Then Harrison said her name.
“Genevieve.”
“Did you kill my father?”
“No.”
“Did you try to steal his company?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Preston closed his eyes.
Harrison continued.
“And I will answer for that. But Thomas's death was not part of my plan.”
“Whose plan was it?”
A noise sounded behind Harrison.
He inhaled sharply.
“There's someone here.”
Preston straightened.
“Dad?”
Harrison whispered:
“He knows I'm talking to you.”
The line went dead.
Preston called back.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Genevieve received a photograph.
Judge Harrison Witmore was sitting alone in his study.
On the desk before him lay a handwritten note.
Genevieve enlarged it.
Three words.
BRING THE RING.
Beneath them was an address.
Genevieve recognized it.
May you like
Hayes Logistics headquarters.
And the message had come from her father's phone.
