THE HEIR'S REVENGE

chapter 44

I called Gerald on a Monday morning.

It was early but Gerald was already at his desk which did not surprise me. Gerald Thompson was the kind of man who arrived at his desk before the city fully woke up.

"The counter case," I said when he picked up. "Where does it stand?"

"We filed it four days ago," Gerald said. "The court has acknowledged receipt. We are waiting for a hearing date." He paused. "The other side will have the opportunity to respond to our filing before the hearing. That will take approximately two to three weeks."

"And when they respond what happens?" I asked.

"They will try to find holes in our counter case," Gerald said. "They will look at everything we submitted and try to argue against it. The hospital competency assessment will be their biggest problem because it is an official document signed by an independent psychiatrist. That is very difficult to argue against." He paused. "However they will try."

"How?" I asked.

"They may argue that the assessment was done six weeks before Richard made his decision and that his condition deteriorated significantly in those final six weeks. They may bring in their own medical expert to say that someone in Richard's physical condition could not have been fully clear regardless of what a competency test said." Gerald's voice was careful. "It is not a strong argument. But it is the argument they have available."

I thought about this.

"What about Hargrove himself?" I asked. "Can he testify for their side?"

"He can," Gerald said. "And I believe he will. He has twenty two years of knowledge about this corporation. If he takes the stand he will say that Richard was increasingly isolated in his final months. He will say that the board was not consulted before the transfer was made.”

“Is that enough for them to win?” I asked him.

“No but it will make the hearing more complicated than it is.”

A short silence.

"What are you thinking?" Gerald asked.

"I have information that Hargrove has been meeting secretly with Victoria Pierce," I said.

Hargrove has been meeting with Victoria at her home, he has been sharing confidential internal information about Blackwell Corporation.

Gerald was very quiet for a moment.

"Do you have evidence of these meetings?" he asked.

"I have a witness," I said. "Someone who was in that house and heard the conversations."

"The witness would need to be willing to make a formal statement," Gerald said.

"She already has," I said. "She made a statement to your colleagues last week about related matters. She can extend that statement to include the Hargrove meetings."

Another silence.

"Ethan," Gerald said. "If this is solid then it does not just weaken Hargrove as a witness. It potentially exposes him to separate legal consequences for sharing confidential corporate information with an outside party." He paused. "That changes the picture significantly."

"I know," I said. "That is why I am calling you at seven in the morning."

Gerald made a sound that was almost a laugh. "Come in at nine. Bring everything you have."

By 9 in the morning, I brought Henry with me to Gerald's office.

We sat in there with the full file and went through everything. The statement Emma made, the information about Hargrove's visits and also the fact that Victoria has been approaching a board member called Winters.

Gerald's legal team took notes. He even had a senior lawyer on the team, Patricia Osei who was a smart woman.

She was the one who told us that involving Winters statements in our work is important because if Victoria was approaching board members to support for a challenge that has not been yet filed, then it shows that it was a jot a genuine concern.

“We cpuod investigate it too.” She suggested. “I'd he truly received any communication from Victoria or anyone connected to her, then it may all be traceable. His Rmsils, phone call, and even his payment. She must have also paid some money to cajole him.”

I was not surprised. That was the kind of woman Victoria was. The kind that would do anything to get what she wanted.

She wrote something down.

Henry who had been sitting quietly spoke for the first time. "There is something else worth considering," he said. "Hargrove's relationship with the shell company that filed the challenge.”

The name of the company is Arden and Associates which is connected to the Vane family trust. It is possible that Hargrove wasn't just doing this to help Victoria but was also getting paid doing it.

Patricia Osei looked at Henry. "If we can show that Hargrove received payment from a Victoria-connected entity to assist in filing this challenge then the challenge itself becomes fraudulent. Not just weak. Fraudulent."

"Can you trace that?" I asked.

"It takes time," she said. "But yes."

I looked at Gerald.

Gerald looked at me.

"This started as a challenge to your inheritance," he said. "It is becoming something considerably larger."

"I know," I said.

The Winters meeting happened later that day. It was something I had to tick off from my to do list before going back to my schedule of planning Lily's birthday party.

I did not tell Winters I was coming. I asked Gerald to arrange a routine check in meeting about the east district acquisition completion and I attended without explanation.

Winters was a quiet man in his mid fifties. He had been on the Blackwell board for nine years. He was not a bad person. He was the kind of person who got into difficult situations through weakness rather than cruelty. When things were stable he was reliable. When pressure was applied he bent.

I sat across from him in the secondary meeting room and talked about the acquisition for ten minutes.

Then I closed the folder and looked at him.

"Someone has been in contact with you," I said. "About the legal challenge. About your position on the board. About whether your support could be moved."

Winters said nothing.

He did not deny it which was itself an answer.

"I am not here to punish you for being approached," I said. "People get approached. That is not your fault." I paused. "I am here to ask you directly whether you responded to that approach and if you did I am asking you to tell me honestly so that we can manage it."

Winters looked at the table.

A long silence.

Then he said: "I received two emails. I did not respond to either of them. I deleted them." He looked up at me. "I should have reported them immediately. I know that. I did not because I did not want the complication."

"Who sent them?" I asked.

"The address was unfamiliar," he said. "But the content made clear it was connected to the challenge. The emails suggested that my position on the board might be more secure under a different leadership arrangement." He paused. "That was the language used. More secure under a different leadership arrangement."

"Do you still have the emails?" I asked.

"I deleted them," he said.

"Deleted emails can be recovered," Henry said quietly from behind me.

Winters looked at Henry. Then back at me.

"I will cooperate with whatever process you need," he said. "I am sorry I did not come to you sooner."

I looked at him for a moment.

"Thank you for being honest today," I said. "That counts for something."

He nodded and looked relieved in the specific way people look relieved when they have been carrying something they should not have been carrying and have finally been allowed to put it down.