A Name From the Dead
Chapter 03 - A Name From the Dead
Ethan moved everyone into the mansion’s library, where the windows faced the sealed driveway. Detective Ortiz questioned Milo while Evelyn sat nearby. Nathan remained at the door, close enough to hear every answer.
Milo explained that he had been sleeping in an abandoned maintenance shed near the Blackwood estate. At dawn, he saw a man in a dark coat enter through the service gate. The stranger slid under the Maybach and worked near the rear wheel. Milo assumed he was a mechanic until the man wiped the car with a cloth and left through the trees instead of the gate.
“Could you identify him?” Ortiz asked.
“I never saw his whole face. He wore a cap.”
Nathan folded his arms. “Convenient.”
Milo looked at him. “His right shoe made a clicking sound.”
For the first time, Nathan’s expression changed. His right leg had been injured during military service, and the brace beneath his trouser cuff sometimes clicked against stone.
Ethan heard it when Nathan shifted his weight.
Ortiz heard it too.
Nathan remained calm. “Half the men in my department wear equipment that makes noise.”
Before the detective could respond, Julian Vale called again. Ethan placed the phone on speaker.
“Where are you?” Julian demanded. “The board is waiting. If we do not sign before noon, Halcyon Capital can force a vote.”
“My car was sabotaged.”
Silence followed, then a carefully measured gasp. Julian asked whether Ethan was hurt and urged him to come in another vehicle. He said the succession agreement was now even more important. If something happened to Ethan, the company needed immediate authority to continue operating.
“Who receives that authority?” Evelyn asked.
Julian hesitated. “The executive committee.”
Ethan opened the digital copy on his tablet. Buried in the final pages was an emergency clause appointing Julian acting chairman if Ethan became incapacitated before the annual shareholder meeting.
Ethan had not seen that language in the draft reviewed two days earlier.
Julian insisted the attorneys had added it for stability.
Milo stood near a shelf of framed company photographs. In one picture, Ethan shook hands with young engineers at the Atlas laboratory. Rafael Reyes stood in the back row. Beside him was Julian.
Milo pointed. “That is the man who came to our apartment after Dad died.”
Julian’s voice stopped mid-sentence.
“What did he want?” Ethan asked.
“He searched my dad’s desk. He said the company owned everything Dad made.”
Julian recovered quickly. He claimed he had visited only to collect confidential documents and offer support to the family.
Milo’s hands curled into fists. “You gave my mother an envelope and told her to stop asking questions.”
Ethan looked at the photograph again. Rafael’s death, the hidden clause, and the device beneath his car were no longer separate events.
May you like
They formed a line.
At the end of that line stood Julian Vale.
