Chapter 32
Through the days that followed, each event felt like another nail hammered into Colin’s previous ambitions.
He became redrawn at some visceral level.
So many friends and strangers misplacing their confidence in him.
Because he had this gift. And he had entered into the entire process trusting as blindly as they had. Why? Because he was still a child.
Four days after they pulled out, their target company declared bankruptcy.
The following day, when Aaron was able to search beyond the official court records, they learned the group had a second legal representative. Not the one named in the court proceedings. Another one. Hidden by way of representing the company president, and not the corporation itself.
Grey Robinson.
Three days later, on a Monday, Roland and Aaron insisted on taking Colin downtown to the City Club for lunch.
Colin had managed to sleep uninterrupted through the previous night, a first since discovering the deception.
This was his fourth visit to the place, twice before with Roland and once with Aaron.
He had almost become accustomed to people staring, to comments following him across the room.
Only today he added a mental echo of his own to the whispers.
Saying how he should have seen this coming.
After ordering, Aaron started in on plans to lodge criminal complaints against Lucretia.
He was in the middle of explaining the difficulties involved, because the lady remained in her home country of Venezuela and the extradition treaty was a mess, when Colin broke in with, “I don’t want to talk about that. ”
Aaron settled back, his head only a few inches higher than Colin’s when seated. “Very well.”
“I don’t want to know anything more about that. Ever.”
Roland asked, “You would prefer we not press charges?”
“She broke the law,” Aaron pointed out. “A number of them.”
He had wrestled over that. “What you do as lawyers is your business.”
Aaron asked, “Will you testify? That is, assuming we can formulate the case.”
He nodded, not so much in agreement as in confirmation that he had thought about this as well. “I was a part of this from the beginning. Just like her. If you call on me, I will testify.”
Aaron waited as the meals were placed before them and Colin’s iced tea was replenished. “Going after Grey Robinson is next to impossible.”
“No matter how guilty he might be,” Roland agreed.
“His fingerprints are all over this matter,” Aaron went on. “But proving this in a court of law will be difficult in the extreme.”
“He will have covered his tracks,” Roland said.
Colin used his fork to clear the air between them. “Let’s eat.”
The food was excellent, and he was famished. He had not finished a meal in over a week. Afterward he lined his utensils on the empty plate and said, “Grey Robinson wasn’t behind this.”
Roland’s protest was so mild, Colin had the sense he was approaching the same conclusion. “You can’t know anything for certain.”
“I don’t need evidence. I know. It’s that simple.”
Aaron’s response surprised him. The attorney nodded slowly, his eyes lidded now. The wise and battle-hardened veteran studying the terrain. “Off the record?”
“Absolutely.”
“What I say, it goes no further.”
“I understand.”
“Then I agree with you. Grey is a legal snake of the first order. But to willfully break the law, even if he was certain of his ability to avoid detection, this puts his entire career at risk.”
Roland started to speak, but in the end he merely sighed. Pushed his plate to one side. Sighed again.
“I’ve been doing some research of my own. Your father’s campaign manager is one Matthew Alexander. He is known as a gutter fighter. A strategist who will do anything at all, whatever it takes, to bring his client victory.”
Roland protested, “He didn’t need to do anything like this to win.”
“This was not about winning,” Aaron said. “Or rather, not about winning this election.”
Roland offered a quiet ahh. A vocal sigh over he knew what was coming.
Aaron turned to Colin. “Alexander sees your father as a winner after his own heart. Your father wanted …”
Colin said the word for him. “Revenge.”
Roland protested, “But why?”
“Because I stopped him from taking over my life. I took away his power of control.”
Aaron’s chin rose a notch. “This is important to your father, having control?”
“It’s vital. It’s the code he lived by as a sheriff. It’s how he survived. At least, that’s what he always claimed.”
“Then I can probably track out what took place,” Aaron said. “Your father threatened Alexander with dismissal. ‘Do this or I find another manager for my next campaign.’ And the one after that. And so forth.”
“Your father is being mentioned as North Carolina’s next senator,” Roland said.
“There you go. Your father demanded, Alexander went to work. Contacting major donors. Working his connections. Uncovering …”
Once again, Colin saw the need to speak the word for him. “Lucretia.”
“What bribe they offered, the terms, I cannot imagine. …” Aaron waved it aside. “And here we are. Enjoying a fine lunch. Celebrating the fact that it did not all end in disaster.” He lifted his water glass in a toast. “Because of you, young man. I know you see this as a terrible mistake.”
“Because it was.”
“On the contrary. You saved us from losing everything.” Aaron sipped his water, the sunlight casting liquid prisms over the starched tablecloth. “Consider this your first trial by fire.”