Chapter 10 - Midnight Transfer
Nora moved quickly, but never theatrically.
She contacted the bank's fraud team and supplied the documented trust restrictions and disputed authorizations.
Margaret obtained emergency relief through the appropriate legal channels.
Priya worked to reconstruct the proposed transfer without destroying evidence.
The destination account belonged to a firm linked to Owen Mercer.
The payment instruction claimed to be a fee for the sale of a hotel that was not for sale.
Its authorization used an outdated version of our company seal.
I recognized the seal instantly.
Thomas had redesigned it after Mariner House reopened.
Anyone familiar with the company at that time might have kept the older artwork.
By evening the bank had held the transaction pending verification.
Daniel called again.
This time he was crying.
"Mom, people are threatening me."
Margaret put the call on speaker with his consent to continue.
"Who?" she asked.
"It doesn't matter. I need access to the account. Just for twenty-four hours."
"No," I said.
He began bargaining with promises of treatment, family counseling, and moving out peacefully.
I told him that getting help was his decision, not a price I would pay for access to stolen funds.
His voice changed.
"Then whatever happens next is on you."
The call ended.
I sat with the accusation for a long time.
A mother can be made to feel responsible for any disaster her child can describe.
But I had not placed that danger in Daniel's life.
He had chosen it, again and again.
At 11:41 p.m., the bank confirmed the hold.
At 11:53, a security camera at the old downtown hotel recorded a man entering its records annex.
He wore a maintenance jacket and carried a key card canceled six years earlier.
The camera caught his face as he turned toward the elevator.
It was Owen.
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At midnight, the annex's fire alarm activated.
The building's sprinklers flooded the room where Thomas's original financial records were stored.
