Chapter 5 - The Debt That Was Real
“Forged what?” I asked.
Lucas went quiet.
He had told on himself.
Dana raised one finger, warning me not to reveal more.
Lucas recovered.
“The documents. The recordings. Whatever weird revenge package Dad made.”
“You seem very certain there’s a package.”
“Mark told me.”
“Mark told you what?”
“That you went to the storage unit.”
I leaned back in the chair.
“Why were you both looking for the Ford?”
“Because Dad was paranoid.”
“About you?”
“He was paranoid about everyone.”
That part hurt because Robert had, in fact, become secretive.
But now I was beginning to understand why.
Lucas softened his voice.
“Mom, I know you’re upset about the funeral.”
“Upset?”
“We handled it badly.”
“You didn’t handle it at all.”
“We were angry.”
“At a dead man?”
“At what he did to us.”
I looked at Dana.
“What did he do?”
Lucas waited too long.
Then: “He ruined the company on purpose.”
Dana mouthed, Let him talk.
“Why would he do that?”
“To keep us from getting it.”
I glanced at the folders on the screen.
“Maybe he had a reason.”
Lucas laughed bitterly.
“You think Dad was a saint?”
“No.”
“Good. Because the $6.2 million debt is real.”
“I know.”
“And lenders are going to come after everything.”
“They can’t touch the house.”
Another silence.
Longer this time.
Lucas lowered his voice.
“Who told you that?”
I smiled without humor.
“Goodbye, Lucas.”
“Mom—”
I hung up.
Dana folded her hands.
“The company debt is real. Robert deliberately separated every personal asset from the business years ago.”
“So he let Hale Freight collapse?”
“No. He let Northstar believe it was collapsing.”
I stared.
Dana opened another file.
A signed purchase agreement.
Northstar Capital had been preparing to acquire Hale Freight’s distressed assets for pennies on the dollar.
Except Robert had sold the most valuable piece—the company’s route-optimization software and regional contracts—to a separate entity eight months earlier.
“Who owns the new entity?” I asked.
Dana turned the screen toward me.
HALE ROUTE SYSTEMS LLC.
Sole member:
Eleanor Hale.
I actually laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was insane.
“I own a company?”
“You own the company that holds the profitable assets.”
“I don’t know anything about logistics.”
“You don’t have to run it.”
“Then who does?”
Dana opened a final document.
The president of Hale Route Systems was a name I recognized immediately.
Clara Bennett.
Robert’s former chief operating officer.
And beneath her name was a note from Robert.
May you like
Ellie, if the boys come back when they learn what you own, ask them one question:
Would you be here if I had really died poor?
