Chapter 3 - THE MAN THEY NEEDED TO FRAME
By sunset, police had sealed part of the construction site.
Luis survived.
His leg was broken in two places, but he would walk again.
James sat outside the emergency room while Evelyn spoke with investigators.
The smell of disinfectant brought back memories of Arthur.
Two days.
That was all the old man had been given after James saved him.
Two days to prepare whatever he had prepared.
Two days to decide James was trustworthy.
Daniel walked toward him.
“Arthur’s preliminary toxicology confirms digoxin exposure.”
“Murder?”
“Likely.”
“Who knew about his medication?”
“Family. Household staff. Personal physician.”
“Company executives?”
Daniel hesitated.
“A few.”
James stood.
“Give me names.”
“This isn’t a street fight.”
“My father has been dead eighteen years because somebody buried evidence.”
“And if you charge toward the wrong person, you’ll help whoever did it.”
James hated that Daniel was right.
Evelyn joined them.
“The police want the crane cable.”
Daniel nodded.
“They should have it.”
“They can’t.”
James frowned.
“Why?”
“It disappeared.”
Silence.
“The cable was lying there.”
“Not anymore.”
Security footage showed a maintenance truck entering the restricted area fifteen minutes after the ambulance left.
The license plate was stolen.
The driver wore a hood.
Professional.
Prepared.
James returned home after midnight.
His apartment door was open.
He froze.
Nothing looked stolen.
Then he saw the wall above his bed.
Someone had taped an old newspaper article there.
RIVERSIDE FOREMAN BLAMED IN DEADLY COLLAPSE.
Samuel Carter’s photograph stared back at him.
Across the article, written in black marker:
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON.
James called Daniel.
Police arrived.
They dusted surfaces.
Photographed everything.
Found nothing.
Except one thing.
A small packet beneath James’s mattress.
Inside were two tablets.
Digoxin.
James stared at them.
“I’ve never seen those.”
Detective Lena Brooks studied him.
“You understand how this looks.”
“Someone planted them.”
“When?”
“While I was at the hospital.”
“Any enemies?”
James laughed.
“Apparently I inherited several yesterday.”
Detective Brooks didn’t smile.
“You paid Arthur Vale’s hospital expenses.”
“Yes.”
“He died forty-eight hours later.”
“Yes.”
“And you became trustee over thirty-eight percent of a billion-dollar corporation.”
“Temporarily.”
“That distinction may matter to you.”
“It should matter to you.”
Evelyn arrived before they finished searching.
Victor had called her six times.
She ignored every call.
When she saw the pills, her face went cold.
“This is a setup.”
Detective Brooks looked at her.
“You’re certain?”
“My grandfather never brought James into his home.”
“Someone could have given him medication at the hospital.”
James stared.
“Are you accusing me?”
“I’m investigating.”
Daniel finally arrived with hospital records.
“Then investigate accurately.”
He handed over a document.
“James Carter left the hospital at 8:12 p.m. Arthur remained under continuous monitored care. Digoxin levels suggest repeated dosing that began after Mr. Carter had already left.”
Detective Brooks read it.
James watched her expression change slightly.
Not cleared.
But doubt.
Daniel continued.
“Someone wants your investigation pointed toward James.”
Detective Brooks bagged the tablets.
“That usually means he’s either innocent or very smart.”
James looked exhausted.
“Lady, I forgot my own birthday last year.”
Evelyn almost laughed.
Brooks finally allowed herself a small smile.
The next morning, Daniel arranged temporary security.
James hated it.
He hated the black SUV.
He hated the man standing outside his apartment.
He hated feeling important when he had spent most of his life being invisible.
But he hated fear more.
At Vale headquarters, they reviewed access logs.
Arthur’s home staff.
Physician.
Nurses.
Family.
Executives.
One person had entered Arthur’s private residence the evening before his collapse.
Victor Vale.
Evelyn stared at the screen.
“My father.”
James said nothing.
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“Victor regularly visited Arthur.”
“Not according to these logs,” Evelyn replied.
There had been no recorded visit in four months.
Until that night.
She called him.
Victor answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“Did you see Grandpa the night before he collapsed?”
Silence.
Evelyn’s face tightened.
“Dad?”
“Come home.”
“Answer me.”
“Not over the phone.”
She hung up.
They drove to the estate.
Victor was waiting in Arthur’s library.
Marianne was gone.
He poured himself whiskey.
Evelyn crossed the room.
“What happened?”
Victor drank.
“Your grandfather and I argued.”
“About what?”
“The company.”
James stood near the door.
Victor glanced at him.
“This doesn’t concern him.”
James removed Arthur’s brass key and placed it on the desk.
“Your father disagreed.”
Victor looked away.
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Did you give Grandpa digoxin?”
Victor turned violently.
“No.”
“Did you know someone was poisoning him?”
“No.”
“Then why are you scared?”
That struck something.
Victor sat down.
For the first time, James saw past the expensive suit.
Victor wasn’t only angry.
He was terrified.
“Because my father told me someone inside Vale had been falsifying safety documents.”
Evelyn whispered.
“You knew?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I was trying to understand the scope.”
“You were trying to protect the stock price.”
Victor’s silence answered.
James felt rage rise.
“My father died because people protected the company.”
Victor looked at him.
“I was twenty-nine when Riverside happened.”
“You were senior operations manager.”
“I didn’t know the steel was compromised.”
“But afterward?”
Victor’s face twisted.
“I knew the report was wrong.”
James stopped.
“You knew.”
“Not immediately.”
“When?”
“Six months later.”
James crossed the room.
Daniel moved between them.
“James.”
“My mother died without hearing the truth.”
Victor looked ashamed.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
James’s voice shook.
“Don’t spend eighteen years silent and then give me sorry.”
Evelyn was crying now.
“Why didn’t Grandpa expose it?”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“Because the evidence disappeared.”
“Who had access?”
Victor looked toward the closed doors.
“Grant.”
Daniel stiffened.
James noticed.
“Who’s Grant?”
Evelyn answered.
“Grant Holloway. My grandfather’s nephew.”
James remembered the name.
Chief Operating Officer of Vale Structural Group.
Publicly described as Arthur’s most trusted executive.
Victor continued.
“Grant handled Riverside compliance.”
James felt the room change.
“Where is he?”
“At a conference in London.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
“I checked the executive travel schedule this morning.”
Daniel’s expression darkened.
“Grant returned three days ago.”
Victor slowly stood.
“No one told me.”
Evelyn pulled out her phone.
“Then where is he?”
Daniel’s phone rang first.
He answered.
His face became unreadable.
“What?”
James stepped closer.
Daniel listened.
Then ended the call.
“The police searched Arthur’s security archive.”
“And?”
“One camera survived deletion.”
He looked at Victor.
“It shows someone entering Arthur’s private medication room twelve hours before he collapsed.”
Victor’s face went white.
“Who?”
Daniel turned the phone around.
The image was grainy.
A man in a dark coat.
Partially turned away.
But recognizable.
Grant Holloway.
Arthur Vale’s trusted nephew.
The man who had controlled safety compliance during Riverside.
May you like
And the man who had disappeared immediately after Arthur died.
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