Chapter 50
“My father was suffering from dementia," Vanessa said. “Early stages. He was still functional, yet forgetful. Entire conversations would disappear. He’d call me on Tuesday and we’d have a long, in-depth, heartfelt talk. Then we’d talk on Wednesday and have the same conversation.
It was heartbreaking. I didn't know what to do.
He got defensive anytime I brought it up to him.
But he knew he was slipping. And I think that's part of the reason why he wanted to go into cryogenic suspension.
He was hopeful that a cure would be developed soon.
It was something he couldn't talk about, acknowledge, or get a diagnosis for.
It would call into question all of his past judgments, contracts, trades, and the way he ran the business.
He was terribly afraid of Elias finding out.
Can you imagine how upset his clients would be?
A diagnosis like that would be devastating.
To be honest, I spent the last several months correcting slight errors that he made.
Things would go overlooked. Trades got held onto for too long.
Bills didn't get paid. It was terrifying.”
"I'm sorry," I said.
She sighed. "Sometimes I think it's better that they went out this way. Fast. Painless. They didn't have to suffer." She paused. "I feel guilty for saying that, but it's better than lingering. Oh God, I never want to go out that way.”
It was a sentiment I could agree with. That hellish state, somewhere between life and death, at the mercy of caregivers, seemed like a nightmare.
I told her Edward had given her father a data drive with all the evidence.
It was probably in Lance's office, or somewhere around his house.
"You need to watch your back. I don't mean to frighten you, but it seems Elias is capable of murder.
Pretty soon, he's going to find his back against the wall. "
"Well, I've got a gun, and I'm not afraid to use it."
I gave her the usual advice about keeping an eye on her surroundings, not going out alone, and staying with large groups. I didn’t particularly think Elias would go after her at this point, but people do crazy things when desperate.
Paris finished her interview with Edward, then I drove him down to the station where he made a full statement.
I caught the sheriff up to speed, and he contacted the FBI and the SEC.
As far as the securities fraud went, it was their ballgame now.
The SEC opened a formal investigation, but that could take months or even years to play out.
In the meantime, I was determined to get the scumbag on murder charges.
Still, something seemed off. Elias didn’t strike me as the kind of guy with expert hacking skills.
But you never know. From what Isabella had told me, the hack into the server at the cryo lab was basic and lacked good tradecraft.
No hacker worth their salt would have attempted such a feat from their own IP address.
No plan ever survives the battlefield. Something always goes wrong.
Something breaks. You need to anticipate the unthinkable.
A VPN dropping the connection, exposing the user's real IP, was not unheard of with low end providers.
Any number of things could cause it. An experienced hacker would have taken greater precautions.
Then again, I didn't think Elias was that experienced.
Perhaps his ego outweighed his ability. That ego was about to bite him in the ass.