Chapter 8 - THE NAME ON THE SILVER RING
The investigation broke open on a Tuesday morning.
Sheriff Price called Jackson.
“We found the SUV.”
Jackson sat upright.
“Where?”
“Abandoned near a service road outside Charleston.”
Inside, investigators recovered several items.
A torn glove.
A receipt.
A damaged phone.
And a photograph.
The photograph showed Jackson's abandoned car.
Beside it stood a man wearing a silver ring.
Jackson stared at the image.
His blood went cold.
He knew the ring.
It belonged to Victor Hale.
His chief financial officer.
A man he'd known for eighteen years.
A man who'd helped build Kesler Holdings.
A man who had access to private schedules, corporate records, and the southern warehouses.
Jackson looked at Reed.
“Victor.”
Reed's face changed.
“No.”
Jackson nodded.
“Yes.”
Victor had always been careful.
Quiet.
Professional.
He rarely raised his voice.
But he'd been growing increasingly ambitious.
Three months earlier, Jackson had questioned several unexplained transfers.
Victor had dismissed them as accounting errors.
Then the anonymous letters arrived.
Then the disappearances.
Then the trap.
Jackson closed his eyes.
Reed looked at him.
“What do we do?”
Jackson stared at the photograph.
For years, his answer would've been immediate.
Find Victor.
Make him pay.
But now he thought of Wyatt.
Of Harold.
Of the promise he'd made.
He looked at Reed.
“We give everything to the investigators.”
Reed stared.
“Everything?”
Jackson nodded.
“Yes.”
Reed hesitated.
“Jackson, that could expose our own operations.”
Jackson looked at him.
“I know.”
Silence.
Then Reed asked:
“Are you sure?”
Jackson stared at the lucky stone on his desk.
“Yes.”
The next day, Victor Hale disappeared.
His office was empty.
His accounts were frozen.
His phone was off.
But investigators had already begun tracing the financial records.
Then Jackson received another message.
You should've stayed in the snow.
He stared.
Below it was a photograph.
Wyatt Morrison.
Standing outside his school.
Jackson's stomach turned.
He called Sheriff Price immediately.
Then Harold.
When Harold answered, Jackson said:
“Get Wyatt somewhere safe.”
Harold's voice hardened.
“What's happened?”
Jackson swallowed.
“Victor knows about him.”
For the first time since waking in the hospital, Jackson Kesler felt real fear.
May you like
Not for himself.
For the boy who'd saved him.
