Chapter 5 - Vault C-17
By sunrise, Heritage Restoration had become the most important company nobody at Sterling Crown remembered hiring.
It had received $18.4 million over seven years.
The invoices described archive preservation, interior restoration, historical-display consulting and off-site storage.
Claire reviewed them from the security command center.
Victor was no longer allowed inside.
Edward watched.
Charles attended by video with company counsel.
“Eighteen million dollars for archives?” Edward asked.
Charles’s answer was immediate.
“Across seven resorts.”
“For what?”
“Preservation.”
“Name one project.”
“The founder’s exhibit in Atlantic City.”
“That cost eight hundred thousand.”
Charles frowned.
“I don’t memorize vendor invoices.”
Claire opened another file.
“Heritage paid Marcus Lane three hundred thousand dollars in 2018.”
Charles said nothing.
Edward leaned toward the screen.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You approved the payment.”
“I approve grouped budgets.”
“Your electronic initials are on the individual exception.”
Charles’s eyes hardened.
“Then perhaps I approved a settlement.”
“For what?”
“Ask Victor.”
Victor was waiting in an interview room downstairs.
When Claire questioned him, he showed her everything Marcus had left.
Letters.
Photocopies.
A newspaper clipping about Raymond Lane’s 1980 departure.
And one unsigned settlement proposal from 2018.
Sterling Crown Holdings offers $300,000 in full satisfaction of historical consulting and family documentation claims.
Victor shook his head.
“My father told me he did contract work for Sterling history archives.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“Why didn’t you question it?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“He told me to leave it alone.”
Claire studied him.
“Then you joined the casino.”
“After he died.”
“Under your real name.”
“I wasn’t hiding my surname.”
“No. Just your purpose.”
Victor looked down.
Claire continued.
“You spent two years using employee access to investigate your family.”
“Yes.”
“And when Agnes appeared, you had no idea who she was.”
“No.”
“Then why accuse her of cheating?”
His face tightened.
“I thought she was suspicious.”
“Based on?”
“She kept changing tables.”
“That isn’t cheating.”
“She was watching staff.”
“That isn’t cheating.”
“She asked three people whether Edward Sterling was in the building.”
Victor heard himself.
There it was.
Not evidence.
Annoyance.
Status.
A woman he had decided did not belong.
Claire said quietly, “You humiliated her because she irritated you.”
Victor looked away.
“Yes.”
It was the first unqualified admission he made.
Claire turned off the recorder.
“You may have spent years hating what Arthur Sterling did to your grandfather.”
Victor looked back.
“And?”
“You used the same kind of power on Agnes.”
He had no response.
Upstairs, Agnes was speaking with Edward.
He had sent a doctor to check her blood pressure and replaced the heart medication bottle that had cracked when it rolled beneath the table.
Agnes accepted the medicine.
She refused everything else.
“Your hotel suite. Your driver. Your lawyer.”
“I’m trying to help.”
“No. You’re trying to manage.”
Edward sat opposite her.
“That’s unfair.”
“Is it?”
He looked tired.
Agnes continued.
“Arthur used to manage problems too. He managed Raymond. He managed Walter. He managed me.”
“My father is dead.”
“His habits aren’t.”
Edward looked toward the window.
The Strip glowed in the morning haze.
“I have a transaction pending.”
Agnes laughed.
“Of course.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means there is always a reason powerful men need truth to wait.”
Edward stiffened.
“Orpheus Resorts is acquiring thirty-five percent of Sterling Crown for two point four billion dollars.”
“And?”
“Historical ownership disputes, undisclosed regulatory issues or internal-control failures could terminate the deal.”
Agnes leaned back.
“So now we find out whether you want the truth or two point four billion dollars.”
Edward stared.
“My employees matter.”
“They mattered in 1979 too.”
“That is not the same.”
“It always feels different when you are the one choosing silence.”
Edward stood.
Before he could answer, Claire entered.
“We found where Heritage moved the C-17 records.”
Edward turned.
“Where?”
“A private storage facility in North Las Vegas.”
Agnes stood.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“Are they still there?”
Claire’s expression changed.
“The storage company says Heritage removed everything.”
“When?”
“Forty-eight hours ago.”
Edward went still.
Agnes looked toward the token.
“Before I walked into the casino.”
Claire nodded.
May you like
Someone had known Agnes was coming.
And someone had started destroying history before Victor ever dumped her purse.
