Chapter 4 - Julian’s Failed Escape
While my mother was incriminating herself in the interrogation room, my younger brother Julian was sitting in a separate holding cell, sweating through his silk designer shirt. What Julian didn’t realize was that Defense Intelligence had already mirrored his personal smartphone and laptop the moment we breached the Stonehaven estate. My forensic cyber team had uncovered a desperate plan he had put into motion three weeks prior.
I walked into his interrogation room accompanied by Special Agent Vance from financial crimes. Julian jumped up from his chair, pacing the small room like a trapped animal.
"Morgan, listen to me!" Julian cried out, tears streaming down his face as he grabbed the edge of the table. "It was Dad’s idea! And Mom’s! I didn't want any part of it! They told me if I didn't help them guard the shed, they would cut me out of the trust fund completely! I'm just a victim in all of this!"
"A victim?" I asked, pulling out my tablet and bringing up a series of wire transfer receipts. "Is that why you personally transferred four hundred thousand dollars from Grandfather’s investment account into an offshore cryptocurrency wallet registered in the Cayman Islands last Tuesday?"
Julian froze, his mouth opening and closing with no sound coming out.
"We also found your search history, Julian," Agent Vance interjected, tossing a printout onto the table. "You bought a one-way first-class ticket to Buenos Aires scheduled to depart this evening. You packed three duffel bags with luxury watches, gold bullion stolen from Arthur’s home safe, and a fake passport."
"I was scared!" Julian stammered, dropping back into his chair and burying his face in his hands. "I knew you would find out eventually! When you stopped calling, Mom said we had at least six months before the military declared you missing in action. You weren't supposed to come home!"
"I am home, little brother," I said, leaning over the table until my face was inches from his. "And that gold you tried to steal? It belongs to a man who fought for this country while you spent your entire adult life whining for handouts. You are facing twenty years for wire fraud alone, plus conspiracy to commit murder."
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"Murder?" Julian gasped, his eyes going wide with terror. "We didn't try to kill him!"
"Withholding food, water, and medical care from an eighty-eight-year-old man in freezing temperatures is attempted murder under federal law," I said coldly before turning my back on him and walking out the door.
