THE HEIR'S REVENGE

Chapter 15:

That night I asked Henry to help me find Curtis.

“May I ask why you are looking for him?” 

“I think he's working with Daniel. I got some information from Brian just yesterday. According to Brian, he won't bother me again but there is this information I need to get from him but I can't.” 

“Okay. I will.” Henry responded after I gave him the necessary information he needed. 

His name is Curtis, he's in fourth year in business school. 

I found Curtis before Henry could. After I had put Lily to sleep, I opened my laptop and I started with what I had. 

Crestwood University's student directory was not easily assembled but I found Curtis in their list of student-led initiatives. 

He was listed as a member on a real estate investment case study that placed second in a regional competition the previous year. His photograph was small and slightly blurred, the kind taken quickly at an event and uploaded without much thought. He had a narrow face, careful eyes, and the self-conscious posture of someone who was used to being in the background.

I looked at him for a moment.

Then I picked up my phone and called Henry.

He answered immediately, which told me he hadn't been asleep. 

"Young master." He answered. 

“I found him but I still need to know more. I'd like to meet him if possible.”

"I'll have a full profile by morning," Henry said. "Will you be in the study?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll bring it to you myself."

When I hung up on the call, I smiled. I just knew I could trust Henry to deliver and he would. 

The next morning he came to my room with a folder and a cup of tea. I knew he hadn't slept at all but he wasn't going to talk about it. 

He stood while I opened the folder. 

“He's twenty two years old, from the northern district and he's a scholarship student. The first student in his family to attend university to this level.”

Could the last information also be found on the Internet? I glared at the photograph Henry had gotten, it was much clearer than the one I'd seen. 

He looked like the kind of man that.worked so hard to get to where he was and wasn't willing to compromise. 

“He is the top third of his cohort and most importantly he has a part time job at a commercial property firm called Verity Commercial Properties.” 

I looked up instantly. 

"I've heard that name," I said.

“Yes, you have. It is a small form owned by the Pierce family relating to real estate.  They work primarily with mid-market clients. The connection to Pierce Holdings is not their primary business, but it exists."

I sat back.

Curtis Aldridge worked in a firm owned by the Pierce family. According to this information, he doesn't have any personal connection to Daniel or Victoria. He wasn't approached as a friend but as a worker by someone who was after Pierce's interests. 

Wow. I guess Daniel was smarter than the credit I'd usually give him.

Or wasn't it Daniel. 

“Victoria?” I thought outloud. This approach is too… deep for Mr. Pierce because he normally deals with personal relationships and people who owned him but this approach is more structured and planned. This was planned by someone who has done something like this before. 

So it was truly Victoria. I had hoped it wouldn't be her. I thought of the falsified doctor report in my safe, the calculated dosage,the nineteen years of silence. 

Just like what Henry said, this was someone who had done something like this. 

“Does he owe them?” I asked. 

Henry turned the page of that folder. “His scholarship is administered through the university but it was originally endowed by a private donor of a firm that handled the Vane family.” 

I stared at the page. 

Victoria's maiden name was Vane, her father was Aldous Vane who made his money in construction. The same Aldous who had funded Marcus Pierce's first real estate venture.

“So in other words, Victoria is funding his scholarship and he isn't aware?” 

“Curtis Aldridge doesn't seem to know the whole picture. He only knows that the university is funding his schooling and that he was offered some good money to work. A work that seemed low risk to him.” 

“Asking about a student's schedule isn't low risk, definitely not me.” 

To me it isn't but to a twenty two year old student who was lied to that it was routine background research, it must have felt so ordinary to him.” 

Henry was right. He was always right. 

I looked at Curtis' photograph again. He seemed to be a good student and a good child generally and I wouldn't want to hurt him but he had crossed the line when he asked of Lily. 

That was a line he shouldn't cross. 

"Is Brandon's handling sufficient?" I wondered. "Has Curtis actually stopped asking around?”

“Based on what I observed, yes. There had been no further communication from that number to Curtis since yesterday. It seems like he had really stepped back.” 

“I want to talk to him. Make it happen.” 

Henry was quiet for a long while. “I'd advise you to be careful, young master.” 

I knew what he meant and I understood it.” ,

"Based on what I can observe, yes. There has been no further outbound communication from Mr. Aldridge to the number in question since Tuesday. His movements on campus have changed in the ways Mr. Mitchell described." Henry paused. "He appears to have stepped back."

"Good." I closed the folder. "I want to talk to him."

Henry was quiet for exactly three seconds. "I would advise caution, young master."

“I won't threaten him so you don't have to worry. There is something he needs to tell me. He might have stopped communication but that number won't stop disturbing him. 

Whoever is at the other end is going to find another person to do his dirty work for him.” 

“But if you approach him,he might report you.’

Chapter 20

“Well, if he does that, we'll end up finding out who the person at the other end is. Either way, we learn something.”

Henry didn't seem to understand what I was saying but he couldn't say no to me. “I'll find a location. Somewhere that's neutral so he wouldn't feel cornered.” 

“This afternoon.” 

"This afternoon," he agreed, picking up the folder. "I'll find out his schedule."

He moved toward the door, then stopped.

"Young master." He turned back. "Whatever Curtis Aldridge knew or didn't know about the nature of what he was being used for, the person who used him knew exactly what they were doing. Keep that in the front of your mind when you speak with him."

"I will," I said.

Henry nodded and left.

In the afternoon, just like I had expected, Henry had Curtis' schedule. 

“He always eats Lunch at the same place every Tuesday and Thursday, a small café on the south side of the Campus.” Henry had told me and that was where I met him. 

I arrived at the Merritt's and chose a table near the window where I could easily see the entrance. I ordered coffee even though I didn't want it and I sat at the folder I've been working through. 

Curtis came in an hour. 

He looked smaller than he was in the photograph. He ordered at the counter, and collected a sandwich and a cup of coffee, I guess. 

I waited and  watched until he settled. He opened his laptop and was working when I picked up my  office and walked over to him. 

He glared at me when I stopped beside his table. Then I saw the alarm on his face. 

He recognized me, he knew who I was. 

“Curtis Aldridge? Is that you?” 

“Yes.” 

“My name is Ethsn Blackwell, I'm sure you know who I am. I'd like to sit down.” I paused, looking at him. He didn't look relaxed. “This will be brief. Believe me I'm not here to cause any problems.” 

He looked at the empty chair, then at me. I could only imagine what would be going on in his mind. 

Then he nodded.

Of course, I sat down and set my coffee on the table. 

I learnt from Henry that opening with what you know before the other person has said anything puts them immediately into a defensive position where they stop telling you things.

 I wanted Curtis to tell me things so I started by asking him about his work.

"You work at Verity Commercial Properties," I said.

"Yes." Careful. Waiting.

"How long?"

"Fourteen months."

“What type of work do you do? Administrative work?"

"Mostly. Some client coordination." He paused. "Why?"

“Well, someone contacted you through your workplace asking how you can find information about someone else. His routine, his schedule, his routine and about a child. Do you think that is okay?” I asked,keeping my voice leveled. 

He looked away, refusing to look at me. 

He knew what he was doing. 

“I didn't…” he was trying to defend himself but he couldn't put words into place. “They said it was research about a distant company dispute.” 

“Who told you that?” I asked him. 

“I don't know who it was.” He answered quickly. “I just got a message through my email. They talked about my scholarship and the address looked like it was from a client.” 

There it was.

They used the scholarship to get what they wanted. 

“This sounds like you were used to it.” 

"The number they had you send information to," I said. "Do you still have it?"

He hesitated. Then he picked up his phone, opened his messages, and turned the screen toward me.

I looked at it and instantly memorised it.

"Thank you," I said.

“I stopped.” He quickly added before I could say anything more. “I had already decided when they asked me about a child.” He looked down. “I have a younger brother and he's nine. I put myself in your shoes and wondered how I'd feel if I was you.” 

“I just knew it wasn't business research.” 

“Your scholarship won't be affected by any of this.” I said. “I promise you that.”

“Why would you.”

“Let's just say that I don't like it when people use your situations against you.” I picked my coffee. “Don't contact that number again and don't discuss this conversation with anyone at Vanity. If anyone from that company contacts you, come to me directly.” 

I slid a card across the table. Plain, with a number. Nothing else on it.

He looked at it. "How would I even explain knowing you?"

"Tell them you introduced yourself on campus. It's not unusual for students to approach me now." I stood. "I mean it about the scholarship. You have my word."

He picked up the card. He still looked like someone waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I left him at his table and walked back through the café and out into the cold air of the library annexe.

I was happy I had gotten that number I memorised, not that it meant anything but it would go a long way with me. 

I was now sure that Victoria was the person behind this whole stuff. Daniel could never be this smooth with his plans. 

What was she planning now? What did she want? 

Her company was going under and she was making plans to come after mine like she came after my mother? At this point, I didn't care if she hated me or not, I just knew that I wasn't going to let her come close to Lily.

She was always acting high and mighty but I didn't care anymore. 

She was the reason my mum was dead and now she was running after me? 

She was doing everything to get any information about me. This meant that she was desperate at this point. 

In my pocket, the number I had memorised sat in my memory like a coal, small and dark and very hot.

Victoria was watching me through borrowed eyes.

Now I have one of hers.

And I hadn't had to break anything to get it.