Read RISE - Part Three (The RISE Series Book 3) for Free Online

police told me Frederick handled investments for a firm based in Boston. I never dealt with them."
    "On the news they said that he told the police things," I stop myself because I don't want to sound accusatory. I can't ignore what I heard on television or what I've read online since my father's arrest but I want to hear the truth from him, directly. "They said that Frederick gave them information that helped them build a case against you."
    "I suppose that he did." His posture stiffens in the chair. It's a slight shift but it's enough that I notice the change. "My lawyer told me that Frederick had thousands of documents in a safe deposit box. Some of those documents relate to me."
    "What documents?" I ask impatiently. "Insurance documents?"
    "I signed things." He pinches his index finger and thumb together as he sweeps them over the top of the table, mimicking a signature. "When I first made district manager, I signed so many things. I didn't read them all."
    I sigh heavily. Maybe the only thing my father is guilty of is poor judgment.  I know from my own personal experience, that attention to detail isn't his strong suit.
    "Did you sign something back then that you shouldn't have? Is that what this is about?"
    "It started that way." He glances back at the guard. "My secretary brought me stacks of things to sign and I did just that. Day after day I signed hundreds of policies without looking them over."
    How can he be held accountable for a simple oversight? If something was amiss in one, or more, of those policies, that can't possibly warrant parading my father on television in front of photographers along with accusations that he's a mastermind behind some plot that involves a missing person.
    I'm suddenly glad that my brother hired Everett to represent my father. He needs the best if he's going to fight this.
    "Why are the police accusing you of so many horrible things if you only signed a few policies that you didn't even write up? Can't you make them see that it was all a misunderstanding?"
    His breathing stalls for a brief second before his eyes lock on mine. I see quiet resignation there. I feel it before he even speaks. "I did those things, Tess. I'm not innocent. I'm far from it."
    ***
    T he guard had called a ten minute warning to us after my father told me that he was guilty. I was grateful when he interrupted us because it gave me a moment to silence my heart's beat. I thought my dad, and the guard, would hear its steady rhythm. It was pounding, just as my mind was. I didn't expect this.
    I knew when I arrived that I'd have answers to many of my questions. I didn't know that my father proclaiming his guilt would answer almost all of them in one fell swoop.
    "I loved your mother, Tess." He smiles gently. "I loved her so much but something changed."
    His declaration may have been welcomed in the middle of their contentious divorce, but today I don't want to hear any of it. I want to know more about the man who broke the law and then lived his life as if nothing was amiss.
    "They said you are involved in the case of a missing woman," I say the words recklessly, not tempering the edge of anger that's there, in my voice. "Who is she? What happened?"
    The muted accusation pushes him back in his chair. His eyes drop to my mouth before they settle back on my eyes. "I had nothing to do with that. I have no idea where she is or what happened to her."
    That's more than I know. I hadn't taken the time or put in the effort to learn more about the woman in question. I had done that with purpose. I didn't want to catch a glimpse of her or see her name in print. I wanted her to be faceless and nameless so I wouldn't torture myself with imagined scenarios about what had become of her.
    "Who was she?" I repeat the question.
    "I'm trying to get to that." He sighs. "She was one of the agents who worked in my division. She wrote up those policies I told you about. She started everything in motion."
    "Why didn't you go to the police