Chapter 6: The Man in the Doorway
The physical therapist's name was Joel Reyes.
He had worked with Adrian for two months after the accident before Adrian had stopped returning his calls.
He arrived at the mansion the following Monday without any visible reaction to the gap in time.
"Where did we stop?" Joel said, setting his bag down in the wide hallway Adrian had converted into a workspace.
"I stopped," Adrian said.
"You didn't."
"Fair enough." Joel looked at him steadily.
"What's the goal?"
"I need to walk into a boardroom in eighteen days."
Joel didn't blink.
"With the chair?"
"I don't know yet.
What's realistic?"
"Depends on what you're willing to do between now and then."
"Whatever it takes," Adrian said.
Joel nodded once.
"Then we start today."
The sessions were hard.
Not because of the pain — Adrian had learned to manage pain — but because of what the work required him to admit.
That he had given up.
That the stillness he had mistaken for acceptance had actually been surrender.
That his brother had read that surrender correctly and built a plan around it.
On the fourth day, Claire called with news about Robert Hargrove.
"He talked," she said.
Adrian set down the resistance band he was holding.
"When?"
"This morning.
My investigator made contact yesterday.
Hargrove has been uncomfortable with the arrangement for months.
When he understood that the notary stamp was fraudulent and that he could be named as a co-conspirator, he decided cooperation was the better option."
"What did he give us?"
"Everything.
Emails going back ten months.
Wire transfers from Crestline to a personal account in Daniel's name.
And a recorded phone call — Hargrove kept it himself, apparently as insurance — in which Daniel explicitly discusses the forged signature and instructs Hargrove to backdate the Crestline registration."
Adrian was quiet.
"Adrian," Claire said.
"This isn't a civil matter anymore.
I've been in contact with the DA's office.
They want to move before the board meeting, not after."
"How much time do I have?"
"They want to execute the warrant on Wednesday.
That's six days before the board meeting."
"Does Daniel know Hargrove has turned?"
"No."
"Good," Adrian said.
"Don't let him find out."
He hung up and looked at Joel, who had been quietly reorganizing his equipment on the other side of the room.
"Problem?" Joel said.
"The opposite," Adrian said.
"Keep going."
On Wednesday morning, Adrian was in the middle of a session when Marcus appeared in the doorway of the hallway.
"Mr.
Cole." His voice was careful.
"There are two men at the front door.
They're asking for Daniel.
I told them he wasn't here."
"Who are they?"
"They showed me identification." Marcus paused.
"They're from the DA's office."
Adrian looked at Joel.
Joel looked back at him.
"Tell them Daniel is expected Thursday morning," Adrian said.
"And ask them if they'd like to wait inside."
Marcus nodded and disappeared.
Joel picked up the resistance band from the floor and held it out.
May you like
"You've got twelve more minutes," he said.
Adrian took it.
