Chapter 7 - The Man in the Gray Suit
Thomas Whitmore was found in the hotel’s executive lounge.
He was drinking bourbon.
Alone.
When Mary entered, he did not look surprised.
“You found the briefcase.”
Mary closed the door behind her.
Daniel and Robert entered with her.
Thomas smiled.
“My brother brought a lawyer.”
Robert stared at him.
“I brought my daughter.”
Thomas looked at Mary’s wedding dress.
“I suppose congratulations are no longer appropriate.”
Mary remained standing.
“You tried to use my marriage to steal control of the company.”
Thomas took another drink.
“That sounds dramatic.”
“You forged documents.”
“I forged nothing.”
“Ethan did.”
“Then speak to Ethan.”
Mary studied her uncle.
He was too calm.
Much too calm.
“You knew Ethan was cheating.”
Thomas shrugged.
“I suspected.”
“With Lauren?”
“I stopped caring about his romantic habits months ago.”
Mary moved closer.
“You recruited her.”
Thomas smiled faintly.
“No.”
Mary paused.
Lauren had said Thomas contacted her.
But perhaps that was not the same as recruiting her.
“Then who did?”
Thomas’s smile disappeared.
“That is the question you should be asking.”
Daniel placed Lauren’s phone on the table.
“We have messages linked to an account used by your office.”
Thomas looked at the screen.
Then he laughed.
“My office has seventy employees.”
Robert struck the table with his palm.
“Stop playing games.”
Thomas looked at his brother.
“For forty years, you have assumed every room belongs to you.”
“It does not make you innocent.”
“No.”
Thomas finished the bourbon.
“But it does make you predictable.”
Mary noticed something.
Thomas was not frightened by the investigation.
If anything, he seemed to be waiting for something.
“What happens in September?”
Thomas looked at her.
“You become chairwoman.”
“And you lose.”
“Yes.”
“So you tried to stop me.”
“I considered stopping you.”
Mary narrowed her eyes.
“What changed?”
Thomas looked directly at her.
“I discovered someone else was already doing it.”
Robert’s anger disappeared.
“Who?”
Thomas leaned back.
“Ask yourself who benefits if both Ethan and I are blamed.”
Nobody answered.
He continued.
“Ethan goes to prison.”
He pointed toward himself.
“I am removed from the board.”
Then toward Robert.
“You retire under scandal.”
Finally, his eyes rested on Mary.
“And Mary inherits a company already surrounded by chaos.”
Daniel spoke.
“Who benefits?”
Thomas smiled again.
“Someone who owns enough shares to become indispensable.”
Mary’s mind moved through the board members.
Then stopped.
Only one name fit.
Rebecca Whitmore.
Her father’s second cousin.
Chief financial officer of Whitmore Holdings.
A woman Mary had considered almost an aunt.
Mary shook her head.
“No.”
Thomas looked almost sympathetic.
“Your fiancé betrayed you.”
He stood.
“Your best friend betrayed you.”
May you like
Then he walked toward the door.
“Why would family be different?”
