Chapter 24 - The Signature That Should Not Exist

The next morning, Lucas’s signature sat enlarged on three screens in the mansion library.

Jason had slept less than an hour.

Jaden had not slept at all.

“This proves he approved the payments,” Jaden said.

“It proves his signature appears on the payments.”

“You’re doing that thing again.”

“What thing?”

“Turning obvious facts into questions.”

Jason looked at him.

“That habit is why we found Gideon instead of running into an ambush.”

Jaden leaned back.

“Fine. What question do you want?”

“Was the signature real?”

The forensic document examiner arrived before noon.

She compared the ledger against contracts Lucas had signed over the previous decade.

Her conclusion was immediate.

“The signatures are genuine.”

Jaden looked at Jason.

Jason did not react.

The examiner continued.

“That does not tell you when or why they were written.”

“What do you mean?” Benita asked.

“People sign blank authorization pages. Signature blocks are copied between internal documents. A genuine signature can be attached to a fraudulent transaction.”

Jason nodded.

“Can you tell if that happened?”

“Maybe.”

She examined the ink.

“The signature and the transaction entries were not made with the same pen.”

Jaden frowned.

“That matters?”

“It may.”

She pointed.

“The payment details were written in black gel ink. Mr. Lucas’s signature appears in blue ballpoint.”

Jason remembered something.

“Lucas signs almost everything in blue.”

The examiner nodded.

“Then someone may have obtained a signed blank page.”

Jaden exhaled.

“So he may still be innocent.”

“May,” Jason said.

Jaden gave him a tired look.

Benita almost smiled.

The blood on Gideon’s cuff came back from the laboratory that afternoon.

It belonged to Lucas.

Cynthia sat down hard when the detective delivered the news.

Jaden stared at the wall.

“How much blood?”

“Not enough to tell us how badly he was hurt.”

“Could he be alive?”

“Yes.”

Jason gripped the wheelchair armrest.

“Did Gideon talk?”

“Not about Lucas.”

“What did he say?”

“That Victor will kill him if he talks.”

Jaden looked up.

“So he admits Victor is involved.”

“He admits he is afraid of Victor. His lawyer is trying to control the statement.”

Jason leaned forward.

“Offer protection.”

“We did.”

“And?”

“He wants immunity.”

“No.”

The detective sighed.

“That is not your decision.”

“Then tell the prosecutor I will cooperate on every financial charge, every company record, every shell account. But Gideon doesn’t walk away from shooting Aliu.”

“No one said he would.”

Jason looked toward Benita.

She was staring at him.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You disagree.”

“I think you’re angry.”

“I am.”

“And angry people sometimes confuse punishment with strategy.”

Jaden muttered, “I like her.”

Jason ignored him.

Benita continued.

“If Gideon can tell us where Lucas is, listen first.”

Jason looked down.

Then nodded.

“You’re right.”

“I know.”

That evening, Gideon asked for another interview.

The detective placed the call on speaker.

Gideon’s voice was rough.

“I didn’t kill Lucas.”

Jason’s body went rigid.

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know now.”

“What does that mean?”

“I had him.”

Jaden stepped closer.

“You kidnapped him?”

Gideon laughed once without humor.

“You think I had choices?”

“You shot Aliu.”

“I was told he had the original work order.”

“So you tried to murder him.”

Silence.

Jason spoke.

“Where did you take Lucas?”

“An old vehicle depot outside the city.”

“When?”

“Two nights ago.”

“What happened?”

“He got away.”

Jaden stared.

“How?”

“He hit one of the guards with a tire iron and ran.”

“Was he injured?”

“Yes.”

“How badly?”

“Cut on the head. Maybe broken ribs.”

Benita covered her mouth.

Jason kept his voice controlled.

“Why didn’t Victor tell you to find him?”

“He did.”

“Did you?”

“No.”

“Why?”

Gideon went quiet.

Then said, “Because I’m tired.”

Jason frowned.

“Of what?”

“Being the man who does the things Victor pretends never happened.”

Jaden’s face hardened.

“You attacked me three years ago.”

A long silence followed.

“Yes.”

Cynthia reached for Jaden’s hand.

His fingers closed around hers.

“Why?”

“You saw a truck you weren’t supposed to see.”

“What truck?”

“Northstar.”

Jaden’s jaw tightened.

“I confronted a driver.”

“Yes.”

“And you nearly killed me.”

“I was told to scare you.”

“You left me bleeding on a road.”

Gideon’s voice broke slightly.

“I know.”

Jaden stepped away from the speaker.

Jason looked at him, but Jaden raised a hand.

“Keep going.”

Jason asked, “My accident?”

Gideon did not answer.

“Did you cut the brake line?”

“No.”

“Who did?”

“I don’t know.”

“Gideon.”

“I swear. I knew Victor wanted something done to your car. I didn’t know what until after.”

“Who had access?”

“Fleet manager. Two mechanics. Victor.”

“Names.”

Gideon gave them.

The detective wrote everything down.

Then Jason asked the question nobody wanted to hear.

“Did my father know you attacked Jaden?”

“No.”

“Did he know about my brakes?”

“Eventually.”

“When?”

“Months later.”

Jason closed his eyes.

His father’s letter had been telling the truth.

“Where could Lucas go?” the detective asked.

Gideon hesitated.

“He took something when he escaped.”

“What?”

“A black notebook.”

Jason looked at Jaden.

“What was in it?”

“Victor’s personal transaction codes.”

“Why did Lucas have it?”

“He stole it from the depot office.”

“Then Victor needs him found.”

“Yes.”

“Alive?”

Gideon’s silence answered.

Jason’s voice became colder.

“Alive?”

“No.”

Benita looked away.

The detective asked for every location Victor used.

Gideon listed warehouses, apartments and one rural property.

Then he said something unexpected.

“There’s a place Lucas might know.”

“What place?”

“Old St. Matthew’s clinic.”

Jaden frowned.

“Why would he know it?”

“His mother worked there before it closed.”

Jason remembered Lucas mentioning the clinic years ago.

They called local police.

Officers arrived twenty minutes later.

The building was abandoned.

Windows boarded.

Doors chained.

But a side entrance had fresh blood on the frame.

Jason watched the live feed.

“Go in.”

An officer entered.

Dust.

Broken chairs.

Old examination rooms.

Then a voice.

Weak.

“Don’t shoot.”

The camera turned.

Lucas sat on the floor behind an overturned desk.

His shirt was stained with blood.

His face was bruised.

But he was alive.

Jaden let out a sound between a laugh and a breath.

Cynthia covered her face.

Jason closed his eyes for one second.

Then Lucas lifted something.

A small black notebook.

“I think,” Lucas said into the officer’s camera, “this is what everyone has been trying to kill us for.”

At the hospital, Lucas refused sedation until he spoke to Jason.

“You’re an idiot,” Jason said.

Lucas managed a weak smile.

“You sound relieved.”

“I’m considering firing you.”

“For being kidnapped?”

“For ignoring every instinct that should have made you call me sooner.”

Lucas’s smile faded.

“I didn’t know who to trust.”

“Why?”

Lucas looked toward Jaden.

“Because my signature was on the payments.”

Jason nodded.

“We found it.”

“I signed blank release sheets for Victor years ago.”

Jaden’s face tightened.

“Why?”

“He told me they were emergency vendor authorizations during a port strike.”

“And you believed him?”

“I was twenty-seven and trying to impress everyone.”

Lucas looked ashamed.

“Your father warned me never to sign anything blank again.”

Jason’s voice softened.

“He knew?”

“He knew I had made a mistake. Not what Victor used it for.”

Lucas held out the black notebook.

“This is different.”

Jason took it.

Columns of numbers filled each page.

Dates.

Amounts.

Initials.

Locations.

“What are these?”

“Cash transfers.”

“To who?”

“Politicians. inspectors. security contractors. Maybe police.”

Jaden stared.

“How high does this go?”

Lucas looked toward the closed hospital door.

“High enough that Victor has survived three years of people asking the wrong questions.”

Benita asked, “And the right question?”

Lucas looked at Jason.

“Why did Victor need Jason alive after the accident?”

Jason frowned.

“What?”

“If he wanted you dead, cutting the brake line was a poor plan.”

Jaden stepped closer.

“You think the goal was to injure him?”

“I think the accident created exactly what Victor needed.”

Jason looked down at his wheelchair.

Lucas continued.

“You stopped auditing transportation contracts.”

The room went still.

“You withdrew from daily operations.”

Jason’s jaw tightened.

“And Victor took control.”

“Yes.”

The truth was uglier than murder.

Victor had not simply wanted Jason gone.

He had wanted Jason present but powerless.

A living reason for the family to retreat while Victor expanded his control.

Jason looked at the notebook.

“Then we don’t arrest him for one attack.”

Lucas nodded.

“We expose the whole machine.”

Jaden looked at his brother.

“And how do we do that?”

Lucas pointed toward a code written repeatedly in the notebook.

17-BLACK.

“That code appears beside every major payment.”

“So?”

“So Victor never carried the master ledger.”

Jason understood.

“He kept a duplicate.”

Lucas nodded.

“And I know where.”

Everyone leaned closer.

Lucas looked directly at Jason.

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“Inside your father’s old office.”

Jason looked toward the hospital window. For the first time, the mystery had a location, a pattern, and a target they could reach.