Chapter 7 - Benjamin Hart's Price
Benjamin Hart looked older than the photograph in Grandpa's study.
His shoulders sagged beneath a brown jacket, and his hands were stained with printer toner.
He had chosen a conference room in Elias's office rather than his own.
When Grandma entered, he rose too quickly.
"Hazel."
"Benjamin," she said.
"You told Richard I had moved away."
Hart shut his eyes.
"I know."
It was the first honest sentence I had heard from anyone tied to Dad's business.
He brought a sealed envelope and placed it between them.
"This is the duplicate memorandum William asked me to retain."
Elias inspected the envelope's markings and photographed it before opening it with Hart's consent.
Inside was a copy of an old agreement proposed by Richard and Monica.
The agreement would have placed the trust-owned building into Red Elm Holdings at a price far below the valuation Grandpa had commissioned.
Grandpa had rejected it.
The duplicate bore the handwritten words: Do not permit transfer without Hazel's informed consent and independent trustee approval.
Grandma stared at the signature.
"William tried to tell me."
Hart looked at her.
"He thought the children would eventually grow out of it."
"Why didn't you speak?"
Hart's throat worked.
"Because Richard had something on me."
Elias waited without interrupting.
Hart admitted he had allowed accounting entries to be categorized in ways he now believed were misleading.
He said he had accepted consulting payments from Red Elm and feared professional discipline if his work was examined.
He insisted he had never approved the most recent transfers.
Priya asked about HART-47.
Hart flinched.
"That file should not exist."
"It does," she said.
For a moment he appeared ready to leave.
Then Grandma leaned forward.
"My husband trusted you."
Hart looked down.
"I disappointed him."
"You disappointed me, too."
He opened his briefcase and took out a flash drive.
"These are the backups Richard told me to delete."
Elias did not immediately take it.
He asked Hart to describe its provenance and arranged for forensic imaging rather than casually opening it on a computer.
Hart agreed.
He also supplied the name of an outside attorney who had drafted the March assignment.
"Richard said Hazel had approved everything," he told us.
"I asked for independent consent confirmation. I never received it."
Grandma's expression hardened.
"And you said nothing."
"Yes."
On the way home she asked me to stop by a park.
We sat in the car overlooking a small pond.
"When your grandfather was alive," she said, "I was angry that he kept secrets about money."
"Did he?"
"He kept me out of arguments. I thought he didn't trust me with them."
She stared toward the water.
"Now I think he feared I would always choose our children over myself."
I told her that protecting her did not mean she was incapable.
She nodded.
"That's why I have to make the next decision myself."
Her phone rang.
It was Aunt Monica.
Grandma put the call on speaker.
"Mom, I'm begging you. Hart is telling lies to save himself."
"How do you know we met him?" Grandma asked.
Silence.
Then Monica whispered, "Because Richard has filed to have you declared unable to manage your affairs."
I felt the blood drain from my face.
May you like
Monica added, "The papers are already at the courthouse."
