Chapter 6: The Man Named Hartfield
The flight was to Miami.
Marcus had that information within twelve minutes of the first text, courtesy of the investigator who had been outside the house since six that morning.
Steven had left with a single carry-on bag — the kind of bag a person packs when they don't plan on coming back for a while.
Marcus stood in the kitchen and made three calls in quick succession.
The first was to his attorney, Daniel Freed.
"He's running," Marcus said.
"I'll call the DA's office," Daniel said.
"They may want to move the timeline up.
Do you want me to request a travel hold?"
"If they can get it in time, yes."
"I'll try.
Marcus — the Hartfield connection.
Does Eleanor know the full picture?"
"She knows enough."
"She may be called in.
As a witness.
If Steven's deal with Hartfield was formalized in any way — documents, emails, her signature on anything — "
"She didn't sign anything," Marcus said.
"I'm certain of that."
"Being certain and being able to prove it are two different things."
"I know," Marcus said.
"Handle it."
He ended the call.
Eleanor was seated at the island now, both hands around her fresh coffee, watching him without speaking.
Maya was beside the sink, very carefully not watching either of them.
The second call was to a number Marcus had saved under no name — just a string of digits.
"He's in the air," Marcus said when the line connected.
"Miami?"
"That's what the booking shows."
"He won't stay in Miami," the man on the other end said.
His voice was unhurried, the voice of someone who had seen people run before and found it mildly uninteresting.
"Miami is a connection point.
Hartfield has a property in the Cayman Islands.
My guess is he's meeting Steven there."
"Hartfield is already out of the country?"
"Left Thursday night.
Private charter." A pause.
"Marcus, I need to ask you something directly.
When Hartfield approached Steven — do you know if there was a written agreement?
Anything on paper?"
"I don't know yet," Marcus said.
"I'm working on that."
"Because if there's a written agreement between Steven and Hartfield that references your properties — even informally — Hartfield's legal team will argue legitimate business expectation.
It complicates the DA's case."
"How much does it complicate it?"
"Enough that I'd want to know before we go any further."
Marcus thanked him and ended the call.
Eleanor had been watching him through both conversations.
She set her cup down carefully.
"Who was that?"
"Someone who knows Hartfield," Marcus said.
He pulled out the chair at the head of the island and sat down.
"Eleanor.
I need to ask you something and I need you to think carefully before you answer."
"All right."
"In the last six months — did Steven ever bring you a document to sign?
Anything related to property, investment, business structure, anything he described as routine paperwork?"
Eleanor's brow furrowed.
She thought for a moment.
"He brought me something in February.
He said it was a proxy form.
For a shareholder vote at a company he had a small stake in." She paused.
"He said it was standard.
He said it just needed a signature to record my preference on a vote.
I signed it."
Marcus looked at her steadily.
"Do you still have a copy?"
"I — " She stopped.
"He took the form with him.
He said he'd file it."
Marcus picked up his phone and made the third call.
"Daniel.
Eleanor signed a proxy form in February.
Steven presented it.
She doesn't have a copy." He listened.
"Yes.
I need you to find out what entity that form was actually for." He listened again.
"As fast as you can."
He ended the call.
Maya had turned from the sink now.
She was looking at her father with a careful expression.
"Dad," she said slowly.
"If that proxy form was for one of Hartfield's companies — "
"Then Eleanor's signature is in Hartfield's files," Marcus said.
"And Hartfield's lawyers will say she was a party to the arrangement," Maya finished.
Eleanor looked between them, her face very still.
"He used my signature."
It wasn't a question.
It came out as something quieter than that — the sound of a woman arriving at the place she had been dreading since the moment she'd read her son's face in the study.
"We don't know that yet," Marcus said.
"But it's possible."
He held her gaze.
"It's possible."
Eleanor stood up from the barstool.
She walked to the window above the sink and stood there with her back to both of them, looking out at the garden where the coffee cups were still sitting on the wall where they'd left them.
"He's been planning this for a long time," she said.
It wasn't anger.
It was a statement of fact, delivered flat and precise.
"This wasn't a bad decision he stumbled into.
He planned it.
He built a structure around it.
He used my signature." A pause.
"He used me."
Nobody said anything.
Eleanor turned around.
Her face had settled into something Marcus hadn't seen before — not rage, not distress, but a clear, deliberate composure.
"I want to help," she said.
"Whatever Daniel needs from me.
Whatever the investigator needs.
Whatever the DA's office needs." Her voice was steady.
"I will not protect him from this."
Marcus looked at her for a long moment.
Maya glanced at her father.
He gave a very slight nod.
"All right," he said.
His phone buzzed again on the counter.
He looked at the screen.
Daniel's number.
He answered.
"Tell me," he said.
Daniel's voice came through the line, careful and precise.
"The proxy form.
I found the entity.
Marcus — it's not a shareholder vote."
Marcus went very still.
"What is it?"
"It's a limited partnership agreement," Daniel said.
"Eleanor's signature made her a named partner in a holding company.
That holding company is listed as a co-claimant in a letter of intent — to acquire your Lakeview building."
The kitchen was completely silent.
"Hartfield's attorneys filed the letter of intent last Thursday," Daniel said.
"The same day Hartfield left the country."
Marcus closed his eyes for exactly one second.
Then he opened them.
"Can we challenge it?" he asked.
"Yes," Daniel said.
"But not easily.
And not quickly." A pause.
"Unless Eleanor cooperates fully and on the record."
Marcus looked at Eleanor across the kitchen.
She was already watching him.
May you like
"She will," Marcus said into the phone.
"Start the paperwork."
