He Killed Me Then Loved Me novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Nobody's Heir

Phillip listened to the recording twice in Maggie's car, and his jaw did not unclench for an hour.

"It's the crash," he said at last. "It isn't the brakes."

"He's too careful for the brakes."

"Then we make him careless on Saturday."

His phone buzzed on the dash. It was Maggie, and the picture showed a red notice taped to the glass of Tuck's Diner.

"Closed by order of the property trust," I read. My hands went cold. "He started with the diner."

"He did it in one night." Phillip started the engine. "Every trustee votes on that lease. So I'm going to do something stupid, and I need you in the room."

"What kind of stupid?"

"The kind my father can't answer in front of other people."

The Foundation's trustees met every Thursday at ten in a glass boardroom above the lobby.

Phillip walked in at five past with me beside him.

A dozen people sat around the table, bankers and doctors and one old judge. Everard sat at the head with a pen in his hand.

He looked up, and he smiled at us.

"Phillip. Hallie. We're in the middle of the budget."

"I'll be quick," Phillip said.

He took a card out of his wallet and laid it on the polished wood. It was his board key.

"I'm resigning my seat," he said. "Effective now."

The old judge frowned. "Young man, you've held that seat for a month."

"And I'd like to give it back before I sign anything else."

"Phillip," his father said, mildly. "Sit down. We'll talk at home."

"I don't live there anymore."

Nobody moved. A banker coughed into his fist.

"Everyone at this table has voted on Hallie Preble's scholarship for seven years," Phillip said. "Did you ever ask where the money came from?"

"From the Foundation, obviously," someone said.

"From my father's pocket, in a private fund no one audits." He kept his voice flat. "I'm not telling you what it was for. Ask him."

"And this morning someone closed Tuck's Diner on your trust's letterhead," I said. "Ask him who signed that, too."

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