Chapter 3 - HER MOTHER KNEW THE DEAD MAN
Arthur arrived at the memory-care facility eleven minutes later.
Paige was standing outside when his SUV stopped.
Two security vehicles followed.
Arthur stepped onto the sidewalk.
“What happened?”
Paige stared at the armed men emerging behind him.
“You tell me.”
He showed her the photograph.
Color drained from her face.
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Someone followed me?”
“Yes.”
Paige immediately turned toward the building.
Arthur caught himself before reaching for her arm.
“Your mother has protection.”
She stopped.
“You put men around my mother?”
“Three minutes ago.”
“Without asking me?”
“Yes.”
Paige turned on him.
“My mother is not one of your warehouses.”
“I know.”
“Then stop treating her like property.”
Arthur lowered his voice.
“Someone photographed you walking into this building because of me. You can hate me tomorrow. Tonight, I'm keeping her alive.”
That silenced her.
Then Paige remembered.
“Arthur, she said something.”
“What?”
“She knew Patrick Doyle.”
Arthur went completely still.
“That's impossible.”
“She said his name.”
“Maybe she heard it somewhere.”
“She also said someone came here asking about you.”
Arthur entered the building.
Margaret was sitting exactly where Paige had left her.
She looked up when Arthur approached.
Then something extraordinary happened.
Margaret recognized him.
Not as a stranger.
Not from television.
Her expression collapsed with grief.
“Oh, Tommy.”
Arthur stopped.
Paige frowned.
“Mom, that's Arthur Gallagher.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Thomas's boy.”
Arthur's father had been named Thomas.
He had not told Paige that.
Arthur sat opposite Margaret.
“How did you know my father?”
Margaret looked at him for a long time.
Then she whispered, “Patrick ruined everything.”
Paige crouched beside her.
“What did Patrick do?”
Margaret's eyes wandered.
“The books.”
“What books?”
“The real ones.”
Arthur's pulse changed.
Margaret suddenly became frightened.
“He'll know I told you.”
“Patrick's dead,” Arthur said.
Margaret stared at him.
“No.”
Arthur felt something cold move through his chest.
“I watched him die.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Not Patrick.”
She looked toward the window.
“The other one.”
Then the memory vanished.
She smiled at Paige.
“Did you bring cookies?”
Arthur and Paige exchanged a look.
Outside, Leo was already searching company archives.
By morning, he found Margaret Bennett's name.
Twenty years earlier, Margaret had worked as a junior accountant for Doyle Maritime Services.
Patrick Doyle's company.
Paige read the file twice.
“She never told me.”
“Maybe she couldn't,” Arthur said.
“Or maybe she forgot.”
They were sitting in Arthur's private office at 4:17 a.m.
For once, there was no three-foot distance between them.
Paige sat opposite his desk, shoes abandoned beneath her chair.
Arthur handed her coffee.
She stared at his hand.
“You handed that to me.”
Arthur looked down.
Their fingers were inches apart.
“So I did.”
“Historic moment.”
“Don't make it weird.”
“You're the man with an internationally recognized personal-space treaty.”
Arthur actually smiled.
It transformed his face.
Paige forgot what she had been about to say.
Then Leo entered.
The smile vanished.
“I found something.”
He placed an old financial statement on the desk.
“Margaret worked under Patrick during the years your father's shipping company collapsed.”
Arthur looked at the numbers.
His father had supposedly died owing millions.
Patrick had stepped in afterward and helped Arthur survive.
But the ledger told a different story.
Millions had been diverted before Thomas Gallagher's death.
Paige leaned closer.
“Look at these transfers.”
Arthur saw it.
Money had moved through three shell companies.
All three eventually connected to one current business.
Rourke Maritime.
Vincent Rourke.
Arthur stood.
“Patrick worked for Rourke.”
“Maybe,” Leo said.
“No. Look at the dates.”
Arthur's voice became quieter.
“My father discovered money missing. Patrick needed him silent.”
Paige looked at Arthur.
“You think Patrick helped kill your father?”
Arthur did not answer.
Leo's phone rang.
He stepped aside.
Paige studied the ledger.
“There's another signature.”
Arthur looked.
M. Bennett.
Paige stopped breathing.
“My mother.”
Arthur immediately saw the horror on her face.
“That doesn't mean she was involved.”
“She signed the transfers.”
“She was a junior accountant.”
“She signed them.”
“Paige.”
She stood.
“All these years I've been paying for her care, wondering why she never talked about her old job—”
“Stop.”
Arthur walked around the desk.
Paige looked up.
He was inside the distance again.
“You don't convict someone from one signature.”
“Isn't that what men like you do?”
The words landed harder than she intended.
Arthur stepped back.
Paige regretted them immediately.
“Arthur—”
An explosion shook the windows.
The lights flickered.
Security alarms erupted.
Leo ran toward the glass.
Smoke rose from the parking structure below.
Arthur grabbed Paige and pulled her against him before either realized what he had done.
His arm was around her waist.
Her cheek was against his chest.
The room went silent inside his head.
No panic.
No knife.
Only Paige.
Leo looked from Arthur's arm to Paige's face.
Then his phone rang again.
“Boss.”
Arthur did not release her.
“What?”
Leo's expression changed.
“That explosion was a distraction.”
Arthur's eyes hardened.
“For what?”
“The memory-care facility.”
Paige pulled away.
“What happened?”
Leo hesitated.
Arthur took the phone.
“Tell me.”
A voice spoke on the other end.
Arthur listened.
Then looked at Paige.
Her mother was gone.
Someone had walked into Margaret Bennett's room during the confusion, dressed as an orderly.
The cameras captured him pushing Margaret through a service exit.
Paige's knees nearly gave way.
Arthur caught her.
This time she did not pull back.
Then Paige's phone buzzed.
A photograph appeared.
Margaret sat tied to a chair.
Beside her stood a man holding that day's newspaper.
Underneath was a message.
Bring Gallagher. Alone.
Paige looked at Arthur.
“No.”
He read the message again.
“Arthur, no.”
He buttoned his jacket.
For ten years, men had believed Arthur Gallagher would sacrifice anyone before allowing himself to become vulnerable.
Tonight they were about to discover they had been wrong.
“Leo.”
“Yes?”
“Find where that photograph was taken.”
Paige grabbed Arthur's sleeve.
He looked down at her hand.
She slowly released him.
“You can't trade yourself for her.”
Arthur met her eyes.
“I can.”
And Paige finally understood why everyone feared Arthur Gallagher.
May you like
It was not because he felt nothing.
It was because once he cared about someone, there was apparently nothing he would not risk.
