“What are you talking about?”
Miles raised a hand, asking him to just wait. “She wanted a hundred thousand to put the idea into development.”
“Caroline has no tech experience. That’s crazy. She never mentioned a word of this to me. I mean, she works in the court system, so I can see where she might have gotten the idea, but she hasn’t any skills to bring it to fruition.”
The hand went up again. “That’s why she told the Google rep the project had my backing. That I’d already chipped in a hundred grand. She showed him a letter, signed by me, endorsing the plan.”
Gilbert looked as though he might have a stroke. “Miles, I swear, I never knew anything about this. I have no idea what she did with that money.”
“She never got it.”
“What?”
“The Google guy, before he cut her a check, he called me to clarify one or two points. I was caught off guard there for a moment. I didn’t want to expose what she’d done, not to him, so I said I’d reconsidered my support of the project based on my own assessment of its merits. Privacy issues, getting access to literally millions of court records. So he pulled out. And then I called Caroline. It was a very simple call. I said, ‘I know what you did and don’t do it again.’ She apologized and asked me not to tell you. I never promised her I wouldn’t.”
“I can’t — what was she thinking? How did she think she’d get away with that? How did she think you wouldn’t find out? How the hell was she going to invent something she had no idea how to invent?”
Miles gave the question some thought. “I’m not sure Caroline thinks that far ahead. She comes up with a plan that has an immediate payoff, but doesn’t have a plan for the fallout.”
“What she did... it’s misrepresentation, or fraud, or both.”
Miles didn’t agree or disagree. “But I give her credit where credit’s due. It was a pretty audacious scheme. Anyway, that’s why I’m not leaving the bulk of my estate to you, Gilbert. I don’t trust Caroline, and I’m not confident you could stop her from taking it all away from you. I’m sorry. And up until recently, I’m not really sure where I would have directed it. But now, I have a plan.”
It only took Gilbert a moment to figure it out. “You’re leaving it to these nine.”
“Yes. But I’m not going to make them wait. I want to start distributing it to them now. At first I thought, find out who they are and put them in my will. But say I hold on for ten, fifteen years. That’s a long time before they come into the money. And they might have a need for it long before then.”
Gilbert said, “You’ve given this a lot of thought.”
“I have.”
Gilbert was silent.
“You feel betrayed,” Miles said.
Gilbert’s mouth had gone dry. He moved his tongue around, trying to moisten it. Finally, he said, “I’m your brother.”
“I know.” Miles paused.
Gilbert’s cheeks began to flush. “Just so I understand, you’re divvying up your fortune to all the relatives you don’t actually know, and not recognizing the only one you do.”
“I suppose I’d be angry, too,” Miles said.
“Look, I can’t excuse what Caroline did. I’m deeply sorry about that, but...” And he started to shake his head angrily. “If you weren’t dying I’d kick your ass.”
“Don’t let that stop you.”
Gilbert tossed the sheet of paper back to his brother and gripped the wheel so hard his fingers went white. “I always looked out for you.”
“That’s true,” Miles said. “Why do you think I brought you into the company?”
“I’ve thought about that. And so has Caroline, for that matter. You didn’t hire me out of any brotherly loyalty. No, you did it so you could show me, every day, how much more successful you are than I am. I work for you. That’s the message.”
“That’s not true. That has never been true.”
“And now you’re coming to the rescue of a bunch of mystery kids. This isn’t about helping them. It’s about making yourself look good. Going out on a high note.”
“No,” Miles said. “Getting news that your time is running out, it changes you.” His eyelids fluttered. “I think I’m going to be sick. I need some air.” He set the piece of paper with the names on it on top of the dashboard, opened the door, and got out. A brief wind gust took the page and dropped it into the passenger’s-side footwell.
Miles took a few steps away from the car into the tall grasses beyond the shoulder and leaned over, putting his hands on his knees, waiting to see whether he was going to be sick to his stomach.
Gilbert looked down into the footwell at the piece of paper with the list of names. He reached down for it, held it in his hand.
Stared at the nine names.
And then he reached into his pocket for his phone, opened the camera app, held it away from the page until it was properly focused, and fired off several pictures.
Then Gilbert let the page flutter back to the floor.
Miles came back, opened the door, and settled into the passenger seat.
“I’m ready to go back,” he said, reaching down for the piece of paper, then folding it and tucking it into his jacket.
Twelve
Springfield, MA
The second time Chloe went to visit Todd, ten days after their first meeting, she went to his place. She wanted to get some video of him in his home environment, and see if his mother would be okay with answering a few questions for the minidoc she was putting together.
She entered his address into the map app on her phone. Her Pacer, not surprisingly, was not equipped with a navigational system. Nor, for that matter, was it equipped with air-conditioning, a working radio, or a windshield that did not have a huge crack in it. He had told her his place was immediately past a fire station, behind a line of trees. There was no name on the mailbox, but Todd had told her to look for the one that was totally covered in rust. Turned out there were a few of those, but eventually she found it.
Chloe turned into the first driveway after spotting the fire station, and very soon the trees opened up to reveal a mobile home. Parked out front were a small Hyundai and a Volkswagen Golf. At the sound of her approach, the front door of the trailer — well, there were actually two, but the one closest to the hitch apparatus — opened and Todd stepped out, waving. He was followed out the door by a woman in her fifties.
“Hey!” Todd said, bounding down the cinder block steps and rushing over to give Chloe a hug as she got out of her car. She was a little taken aback by the gesture, but responded in kind, putting her arms around him and giving him a squeeze.
Todd pointed to the woman, who was limping toward them, a smile on her face. “Chloe, this is my mom. Mom, this is Chloe.”
“I’m Madeline,” she said, and gave Chloe her second hug. Madeline had tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe it. It’s just a miracle. I’m so happy to meet you.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty neat,” Chloe agreed.
“Excuse my hobbling,” Madeline said. “I did something to my ankle, but I’m okay.”
“Let’s go inside,” Todd said. “You want a beer or something?”
Chloe shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”
Todd ran back to the trailer. Chloe took her time so that she could walk alongside Madeline, who wasn’t moving as quickly.
“He’s so excited,” Todd’s mother said. “Well, so am I. How was the drive?”
“Good. It was good.”
Madeline struggled with the steps up to the trailer door, but made it without complaint. Once inside, Chloe looked about. Dishes in the sink, takeout food containers scattered about. In her head, she was saying, I hope you didn’t go to any trouble, but kept her sarcasm to herself, this time.