Chapter 9 - What Evan Was Hiding.Evan did not answer the first three calls.
Cole drove to the office.
He brought Ben with him.
Maggie objected.
Cole insisted.
“If he is afraid of where I go, then he needs to see it.”
The Mercer Response Group headquarters occupied two floors of an old brick warehouse outside the city.
Ben stared through the truck window.
“This is work?”
“This is one of the places.”
“Where's Chicago?”
“Far away.”
“Are we going?”
“No.”
Ben nodded, satisfied.
Cole carried him through the lobby.
Employees stopped and smiled.
Most had never met Cole's son.
Cole realized that too.
His company knew he had a child.
His child barely knew his company.
Evan's office door was locked.
Cole used his master key.
The desk was unusually clean.
Too clean.
Cole opened the filing cabinet.
Empty.
He checked the credenza.
Empty.
His stomach tightened.
Ben sat in a chair.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you mad?”
Cole turned.
“A little.”
“You look really mad.”
Cole softened his face.
“I'm not mad at you.”
“I know.”
Ben swung his feet.
“You make the same face when my cereal spills.”
Cole almost laughed.
“Apparently I need more faces.”
His chief financial officer, Leah Grant, appeared in the doorway.
She looked uncomfortable.
“Cole.”
“Where is Evan?”
“I don't know.”
“When did you last see him?”
“Last night.”
Cole held up the Northstar offer.
“What did he mean by this?”
Leah read the handwritten note.
Her face changed.
“Close the door.”
Cole looked at Ben.
Leah noticed.
“Maybe he shouldn't—”
“He stays.”
Cole pulled a tablet from the conference shelf and opened a cartoon.
Ben accepted the headphones.
Cole and Leah stepped to the other side of the room.
Leah whispered.
“We have a cash problem.”
“I know about the bank review.”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“Bigger.”
Cole stared at her.
“How big?”
“Almost six million.”
His voice dropped.
“What?”
“Funds were moved out of two reserve accounts.”
“By who?”
Leah said nothing.
Cole already knew.
“Evan.”
“We're still tracing it.”
“When did you find out?”
“Yesterday.”
“And you didn't call me?”
“I told Evan I was going to.”
Cole felt fury rise.
“He said he would handle it.”
Cole laughed without humor.
“Of course he did.”
Leah continued.
“Some of the money may have gone into projects that weren't authorized.”
“May have?”
“I need another day.”
Cole looked through the glass wall.
Fifty-three employees.
People laughing at desks.
People carrying coffee.
People who had no idea their jobs might be in danger.
Suddenly the Northstar acquisition made sense.
Evan had not been trying to grow the company.
He had been trying to sell it before anyone discovered the missing money.
Cole called him again.
This time Evan answered.
“Where are you?”
Evan sighed.
“Cole.”
“Where?”
“It doesn't matter.”
“Six million dollars matters.”
Silence.
Cole's jaw tightened.
“You moved company money.”
“I invested it.”
“In what?”
“Opportunities.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
Cole closed his eyes.
Ben was watching his cartoon.
He had no idea his father was standing ten feet away from losing everything he spent fifteen years building.
Cole lowered his voice.
“Come to the office.”
“No.”
“You owe me an explanation.”
“I owe you a company that survives.”
“You almost sold it without telling me why.”
“I was trying to save it.”
“You were trying to save yourself.”
Evan's voice hardened.
“You were never here, Cole.”
Cole froze.
Evan continued.
“You built the name.”
“I ran the machine.”
“You were on planes.”
“You were chasing contracts.”
“You told me to handle everything else.”
Cole could not deny some of it.
Evan laughed bitterly.
“You want to become Father of the Year now?”
“Fine.”
“But don't act shocked that somebody else was making decisions while you were gone.”
Cole looked at Ben.
The words landed in a place Evan could not understand.
Somebody else was making decisions while you were gone.
At home, Maggie.
At work, Evan.
Cole had been everywhere.
And nowhere.
“Come in.”
Cole's voice was quiet.
“No.”
“Then I'm freezing every account you can access.”
Evan disconnected.
Leah immediately started making calls.
Cole walked toward Ben.
The cartoon had ended.
Ben removed the headphones.
“Are we going home?”
Cole looked around the office.
His first instinct was to stay.
Fight.
Control.
Fix.
Then he remembered the schedule.
“Yes.”
Ben smiled.
Cole called Leah.
“Handle the freezes.”
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
She looked shocked.
“Cole, this is a crisis.”
“I know.”
“And you're leaving?”
He looked at Ben.
“No.”
“For once, I'm going where I said I would.”
He picked up his son's backpack.
They walked toward the elevator.
May you like
Behind them, the company Cole had spent fifteen years building began to unravel.
For the first time, Cole did not chase it down the hallway.
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