Chapter 2 - THE PHONE THAT NEVER RANG
By the time the black phone left the mansion in an evidence case, David's lawyer was already speeding toward the property.
His name was Richard Halpern.
He had represented politicians.
CEOs.
Professional athletes.
Men who thought money should create different laws for them.
Richard arrived in a charcoal Mercedes, stepped past the reporters gathering outside the gate, and entered the mansion with the expression of a surgeon arriving halfway through a failed operation.
He found David in the empty dining room.
There was no table.
No chairs.
Only two folding seats brought in by federal agents.
David stood when Richard entered.
"Get them out."
Richard removed his coat.
"That's not how this works."
"They're searching my house."
"With a warrant."
"They froze my accounts."
"Sit."
"Richard—"
"Sit down."
David stared at him.
Then sat.
Richard pulled the warrant from his briefcase.
He read quickly.
His face became darker with every page.
Finally, he looked up.
"What did they find?"
"Nothing important."
Richard stared at him.
"Try again."
David looked toward the doorway.
Richard lowered his voice.
"How bad?"
David didn't answer.
"Ten million?"
Silence.
"Twenty?"
Still nothing.
Richard's face tightened.
"David."
"Forty-eight."
Richard slowly sat back.
"Forty-eight million dollars?"
"Not all at once."
"That's not a defense."
"It moved through different structures."
"Whose money?"
David looked away.
Richard leaned forward.
"Whose?"
"Company funds."
"Which company?"
David hesitated.
Richard understood.
"Multiple."
David rubbed both hands over his face.
"I can explain it."
"Can you explain your wife's forged signature?"
David looked up.
"I never physically signed her name."
Richard stared at him.
David continued.
"Someone handled the paperwork."
"Who?"
"No."
Richard's expression hardened.
"No?"
"I'm not giving you names."
"I'm your attorney."
"Then defend me."
"I cannot defend facts you refuse to tell me."
David leaned closer.
"I authorized transactions."
"Using your wife's identity."
"She was on the documents."
"Did she know?"
David looked away.
That was the answer.
Richard stood.
"You used Maya as a signatory without her knowledge."
David said nothing.
"You made your wife look involved."
Still nothing.
Richard stared at him.
"You built yourself a scapegoat."
David's jaw clenched.
"It wasn't like that."
"What was it like?"
"I needed protection."
"From what?"
David leaned back.
"Business risk."
Richard laughed once.
"You're going to prison if you keep talking like that."
David slammed his hand against the chair.
"I need you to fix this."
Richard looked at him.
"I can defend you."
"Same thing."
"No."
His voice went cold.
"It isn't."
Across the mansion, Julianne sat alone with two federal agents.
Her oversized sunglasses were gone.
Her designer bag sat on the floor.
She looked smaller without them.
One agent placed the forged authorization in front of her.
"Walk me through this."
Julianne stared at the paper.
"I didn't know it was forged."
"What did David tell you?"
"That Maya had already signed."
"Why weren't you present when she allegedly signed?"
"He said she didn't want to come into the office."
"Yet you signed as a witness."
Julianne closed her eyes.
"I know how it looks."
"It looks like you witnessed a signature you never witnessed."
"He said it was a formality."
"Why would a forty-eight-million-dollar transfer need a false witness as a formality?"
Julianne's eyes opened.
"I didn't know it was forty-eight million."
The agent tapped the page.
"The number is printed directly above your signature."
Julianne started crying.
"I didn't read it."
The agent waited.
Julianne whispered, "I trusted him."
No sympathy appeared on the agent's face.
"You're not the only person who did."
Julianne looked toward the doorway.
"Am I going to prison?"
"That depends."
"On what?"
"How much you knew."
She hugged herself.
"I didn't know about Maya's signature."
"What did you know?"
Julianne remained silent.
The second agent leaned forward.
"You told us David used that phone when he wanted things to disappear."
Her face changed.
The first agent asked, "What did you mean?"
Julianne looked toward the closed dining room.
"David had people."
"What people?"
"I don't know."
"Security?"
"Sometimes."
"Accountants?"
"Sometimes."
"People who moved money?"
She nodded.
"People who hurt other people?"
Julianne's eyes filled.
"I don't know."
"That's not an answer."
She lowered her voice.
"I never saw anything happen."
"Did you hear anything?"
Julianne didn't respond.
The agent waited.
Finally, she whispered, "There was a man."
"What man?"
"I only knew him as Grey."
"First name?"
"No."
"Last name?"
"No."
"Where did you meet him?"
"On the yacht."
The agent stopped writing.
"The yacht you and David spent several weeks on?"
"Yes."
"What was Grey doing there?"
Julianne's hands shook.
"David said business."
"What kind of business?"
"I wasn't supposed to ask."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Did you listen?"
Julianne looked at the table.
"Yes."
The agent leaned forward.
"What did you hear?"
Julianne's voice became barely audible.
"David said Maya was getting suspicious."
My name hanging in that room changed everything.
The agent kept his face neutral.
"Suspicious about what?"
"Money."
"Anything else?"
Julianne nodded.
"He said if she hired the wrong lawyer, she'd start digging."
"Wrong for whom?"
Julianne looked at him.
"For David."
The agent wrote that down.
"What did Grey say?"
Julianne swallowed.
"He asked how far David wanted him to go."
"Go where?"
"I don't know."
"What exactly did he say?"
Julianne closed her eyes.
Then repeated the words.
"Do you want her scared, silent, or gone?"
Both agents stopped moving.
Julianne began crying harder.
"What did David say?"
She shook her head.
"I left."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't want to hear."
"That's not the same as not hearing."
Julianne stared at him.
The agent asked again.
"What did David say?"
Tears slid down her face.
Julianne whispered, "He said he needed time to think."
"Then?"
"I went outside."
"Did you hear anything after that?"
Julianne hesitated.
Then nodded.
"One thing."
"What?"
"Grey asked when Maya would be alone."
The room went silent.
Julianne's voice cracked.
"And David said, 'Thursday night.'"
I was supposed to attend a charity dinner alone on Thursday night.
The same Thursday night Lily collapsed.
The same night I had abandoned my plans because my daughter suddenly became critically ill.
May you like
The same night David ignored sixty calls.
And the same night someone had asked when I would be alone.
