Chapter 5: The Thing David Needed Her to Hear
I didn't meet David alone.
I met him in Rebecca's conference room, with Rebecca seated at the far end of the table and a digital recorder — with David's full knowledge and consent — placed between us.
He arrived twelve minutes late.
He was wearing a jacket that looked like it had been grabbed in a hurry, and he hadn't shaved.
He looked like a man who hadn't slept.
He sat down across from me and looked at the recorder.
"That's fine," he said.
"I want it on record anyway."
"All right," I said.
"Talk."
He folded his hands on the table.
Unfolded them.
Looked at the window.
"I didn't know about the loan application," he said.
"I want to start there.
I didn't know Nathan listed Meridian as an asset.
That was not part of what I agreed to."
"What did you agree to?"
He exhaled slowly.
"Nathan came to me two years ago.
After the business went under.
He said he had a plan to rebuild — a real estate holding structure.
He needed a registered agent for the LLC.
Someone whose name wasn't already connected to his failed company.
He said it was clean.
Completely legal."
"And you believed him."
"I wanted to believe him." He looked at me directly for the first time.
"He's my brother."
"So you signed the Meridian documents."
"Yes."
"And the card?
The one with the PO box?"
His jaw moved.
"Nathan asked me to sign for a couple of dinners.
Said it was a client meeting, that his own card was flagged for review and he needed a backup.
I signed twice.
That's it.
I didn't know about the hotel.
I didn't know about the jewelry." He paused.
"I didn't know about her."
"Who is she?"
David looked at the table.
"David."
"Her name is Cara," he said.
"She works in property management.
Nathan met her through the Meridian contacts." He stopped.
"She's the one who helped him structure the company.
She knows everything about the loan.
Everything about the asset declaration."
The room was very still.
"She helped him commit fraud," I said.
"I don't know what she knew or didn't know," David said carefully.
"But she was involved."
Rebecca spoke from the end of the table, quietly.
"Do you have her contact information?"
"I have her last name and the company she works for.
I can write it down."
"Please do."
He reached for the notepad Rebecca slid toward him and wrote without hesitation.
Like he'd been carrying the name around and needed somewhere to put it.
He pushed the pad back.
I looked at what he'd written.
Cara Voss.
Pinnacle Property Group.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.
David was quiet for a moment.
"Because Nathan called me last night," he said.
"He told me to stay quiet.
He told me that if this went further, we'd both go down together." He looked up.
"And I realized that's what he's been saying to me for two years.
Every time I had a question.
Every time something felt wrong." His voice dropped.
"I'm not going down for something I didn't fully understand I was part of."
I studied his face.
He looked tired.
He looked like someone who had been standing next to a fire for a long time and had only just noticed his coat was burning.
"If you're willing to provide a formal statement," Rebecca said, "we can discuss how that affects your own exposure."
David nodded slowly.
"That's why I'm here," he said.
My phone lit up on the table.
Nathan again.
I could see the first line of the message through the screen.
*Olivia, if you've talked to David, don't trust anything he—*
May you like
I turned the phone over.
"Let's keep going," I said.
