Chapter 10: The Last Thing Foss Did
I was back at Margaret's apartment by midnight with the manila envelope and the USB drive.
Adrian was on the phone when I walked in.
He ended the call and looked at the envelope in my hands.
"Ruth Heller," I said.
"Retired notary in Evanston.
She has a copy of the notarization on file."
Margaret was already at her laptop.
"I have a contact at the FBI's financial crimes division," she said.
"We went to college together.
She's been waiting for something solid for three years." She looked up.
"This is solid."
"How long does it take?" Adrian said.
"To open an investigation?
Days.
To execute on Foss?
Weeks, maybe less if the co-signatory filing gives them a current active fraud to move on." She held out her hand for the envelope.
"It does."
I gave it to her.
She held it for a moment.
Both hands.
Like something she'd been carrying a long time and was finally setting down.
Then she opened her laptop and started scanning.
Adrian stood beside me.
"My father," he said quietly.
"I know."
"He needs to hear it from me before this goes public."
"I know."
"He's going to—" He stopped.
"He's going to find out his sister is alive," I said.
"Whatever comes after that is going to be complicated and painful and real.
But she's alive.
That part is good."
Adrian looked at me.
"Yes," he said.
"That part is good."
Margaret sent the files at 1:14 AM.
At 2:30 AM, her contact called back.
Twelve minutes on the phone.
Margaret said very little.
She listened, confirmed twice, and said thank you.
She set the phone down.
"They already had a file on Foss," she said.
"Three years of circumstantial.
What we sent them tonight makes it actionable." She paused.
"They're moving on the co-signatory filing first.
That's current and provable.
The warrant will be ready by morning."
Adrian nodded once.
"I need to go see my father," he said.
"Wait until six," Margaret said.
"Let him sleep.
You'll want him calm."
Adrian looked at his sister's photograph on the table — the copy he'd been carrying — and then at Margaret herself.
"He's going to want to see you," he said.
"I know." She straightened the papers on the table.
"One thing at a time."
At 5:45 AM, Adrian's phone rang.
He answered it, listened for thirty seconds, and looked at me.
"Foss," he said.
"He's at my father's house."
Margaret stood up immediately.
"He knows," she said.
"Someone told him the files moved."
"Or he saw Carver leave the facility empty-handed and put it together." Adrian was already moving.
"He'll try to get my father to sign something.
A counter-authorization.
Something that neutralizes the co-signatory filing before the warrant lands."
"If your father signs it—"
"He won't." Adrian's voice was certain.
"Not if I'm in that room."
He looked at me.
"I need you there," he said.
"My father knows you now.
He won't dismiss you.
And Foss won't know what to do with you."
I picked up my coat.
Margaret caught my arm as I passed.
"Be careful of what Foss says," she said quietly.
"He doesn't threaten.
He offers.
He'll find the thing you want most and offer you a version of it."
"What does he think I want most?"
"Your mother's care.
Guaranteed.
Fully funded.
For as long as she lives." Margaret's grip was steady.
"He'll make it sound generous."
"And if I say no?"
"Then he'll make it disappear." Her eyes were clear and direct.
"Say no anyway."
May you like
I nodded.
We went out into the early Chicago morning.
