Chapter 15 - THE MAN WHO KEPT TWO LEDGERS
Warren Pike entered the interview process through an attorney who negotiated no promises of immunity.
He arrived carrying a hard drive, a stack of notebooks, and the weary expression of someone who had discovered too late that he was expendable.
Investigators did not allow me to attend his interviews.
Over the following days, documents surfaced through the official case process.
Pike had maintained two sets of ledgers.
One tracked legitimate revenue, payroll, expenses, and taxes for Dad's business.
The second tracked unauthorized diversions and false supporting invoices.
Pike said Ethan had persuaded him to begin with small transfers while promising to repay everything after a property deal.
When the deal failed, the scheme expanded.
Daniel's restaurant became an instrument for disguising payments.
Marjorie's debts supplied constant pressure.
And my father, who trusted the accountant recommended by his son-in-law, discovered the theft only after an unusual bank charge led him to review records himself.
Pike admitted producing false consent forms.
He claimed he did not know of any plan to harm George physically.
But he had kept copies of messages in which Ethan referred to "the timing problem" and "the medical solution."
Pike could not explain those phrases convincingly.
He did reveal why Dad's office carpet had been cleaned.
During an argument at the garage, Ethan had knocked a mug of coffee and a bottle of medication from the desk.
Dad had fallen against the filing cabinet.
Pike said he saw blood on the carpet.
"Why didn't anyone call for help?" Mercer reportedly asked.
Pike's written account stated that George was conscious and ordered them to leave.
Whether that account was truthful remained disputed.
The most startling discovery was a photograph of a signed document labeled "Asset Transition Authorization."
Pike had prepared it for Ethan.
Its effective date was the day after Dad's funeral.
And the signature at the bottom was not George's.
It was mine.
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Someone had planned to forge my agreement before my father's body was buried.
