“If it isn’t the prodigal son in the flesh,” he sneers, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “What do you want, kid?”
“Answers,” I say, “and you’re going to give them to me.”
His gruff chuckle bounces off the dull blue walls. “I ain’t telling you shit, boy.”
“I think this will change your mind.” I slide the paperwork across the table to him.
His eyes dart between me and Xavier, and I know he’s dying to ask who he is. “What is this?”
“Proof I paid off the arrears and cleared the mortgage fully on your family’s home.”
His eyes race across the page as he reads the statements. Xavier retrieves the hidden cell phone from his bag, preparing the recording.
“How do I know this isn’t falsified,” he says, proving he’s not as dumb as he appears to be.
“We figured you wouldn’t believe us, so I paid your wife and kids a visit.” I nod at Xavier.
Xavier plays the message his wife recorded, holding out the phone to him.
Tears well in his eyes, and he gulps as he listens to her happy voice confirm they are no longer being evicted.
Xavier takes the cell back as I slide the second set of paperwork across the desk. “Sign that and I will deposit half a million dollars into your wife’s bank account by the close of business today. I know your eldest son is graduating next year, and this will ensure he gets to go to NYU.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I already told you. Answers.”
“Why do you need me to sign?”
“Because we’re recording this,” Xavier says, “and you’ll agree to testify against the elite if it comes down to it.” He throws out the first bait.
Roland shifts uncomfortably on his seat. “You don’t want to mess with these people. I did and look where it got me.”
There’s the first confirmation we need. “We know how to handle the elite,” I supply. “You just worry about yourself.”
“If I talk, they’ll come after me.”
“We’ll ensure you have protection,” I coolly lie.
“How?”
“How do you think we are sitting here today?” Xavier says, because he just can’t keep quiet, even though I asked him to let me lead. “In a room with no guard and the camera switched off?”
Roland shifts on his chair, inspecting the camera, before he turns back around. He scratches the scruff on his chin. “People have been murdered in here. I don’t know.”
I shield none of my disgust when I look at him. “This is for your family. The family you basically abandoned when you chose to defraud my father’s company. You should be spilling your guts already, not worrying about your pathetic ass. Or don’t you care about your kids?”
“Of course, I do. I love my family.”
“Then prove it,” I snap, pushing the contract at him again.
He bobs his head. “You’re right. And you’re going to protect me.” His hand shakes as he scribbles his signature on the dotted line.
I take the document, setting it down on top of the other paperwork.
“What do you want to know?”
Xavier presses the record button on the cell, but it’s purely for show. I clear my throat. “Why did you steal from Techxet, and who was really behind it?” I ask.
“I’d been stealing small sums for years. Completely undetected because I knew how to cover my tracks. I had a gambling problem, you see. Every time I ran into trouble, I dipped into Techxet’s funds.”
He doesn’t even look apologetic, but I keep a neutral mask planted on my face, urging him to continue.
“I was waiting for my kid to finish football practice one evening when this guy accosted me in the parking lot of the school. Said he knew what I’d been doing. Showed me paperwork that could send me to jail. He gave me a burner cell and told me to wait for instructions. A few days later, he sent me coordinates to a meeting location and told me to come alone.”
“Who was it?” Xavier asks.
Murtagh scratches the back of his head, looking anxiously around. “Mathers. His name was Denton Mathers.”
Can’t say I’m hugely shocked. “Go on.”
“I nearly died when I showed up to find Vincent Becker there.”
“Techxet’s chief technology officer at the time,” Xavier confirms.
“Yes. We knew each other, of course. He was just as shocked to see me there.”
“What did Mathers have on Becker?” I inquire.
“I don’t know. He made it clear he had eyes on both of us and that we weren’t to discuss our individual circumstances. I have no clue what he had on Becker. Frankly, the guy was straight as an arrow. I can’t imagine he did anything illegal, but he was holding something over his head. He gave each of us a sealed envelope and told us he would use the contents if we talked to anyone or didn’t do as he asked.” Sweat beads on his brow. “He had his men hold guns to our heads the entire meeting. I was sufficiently scared.”
“What did he ask you to do?”
“He wanted us to work together to find some evidence your father had on the elite. He didn’t say what. Becker gave him access to the Techxet system when his searching came up empty-handed. Becker came to see me a few nights later. He wasn’t in a good place. He said he couldn’t do it anymore. That the guilt was crippling him. He was going to fess up. I tried to talk him out of it, but he seemed determined.” He shakes his head. “A few hours later, Becker, his wife, and his daughter died in a car crash. I was fucking terrified, because I knew it was no accident.”
He blows air out of his mouth, and he drums his fingers on the table. “Denton hauled me in shortly after that. He confirmed he had taken Becker out. Said me and my family would be next if I even attempted to open my mouth.”
“So, you kept quiet, and then what happened?” I coax.
“I gave him copies of the bank statements every month, and I knew his team was in the system, looking around, but nothing happened for almost a year. I kind of hoped they had found what they wanted or given up. But then your father and his lawyers called me into a meeting. They told me serious fraud had been committed, and they wanted to know how it had happened and I hadn’t noticed anything was amiss. I was shitting bricks. I swear I had no idea Mathers was going to steal all that money.”
I doubt it would have made a difference if he did.
“I was suspended while an investigation was being carried out. I knew shit was about to hit the fan, so I tried to run.” He swipes at his sweaty brow. “I was an idiot to think he’d ever let me get away.”
Xavier and I exchange wary expressions. “What happened next?”
“Mathers caught up to me less than twenty-four hours later. I was taken to some underground basement and interrogated. He told me I would take the fall for the missing money and I would tell them Becker had been involved too. Mention how unhinged he was. Insinuate the accident was more like suicide.”
“And he used your family to force you to cooperate,” I guess.
He nods. “He told me as long as I kept my mouth shut, he would look after my family, and he did.”