Chapter 14 — Sirens

Two detectives came into the study.

Nigel had called them earlier, following my father’s instructions to the letter — instructions that had been, characteristically, both merciful and exact.

Unless Leon tried to run, or tried to destroy evidence, or raised his hand to me, the detectives were to wait outside until the safe had been opened and the truth had been laid out fairly, in front of the family, with Leon given every chance to account for himself.

My brother had managed all three of those things before lunch.

They arrested him for the assault first — that one was simple, witnessed by a churchful of people — and then began, methodically, to ask him about the rest: the financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, the forgery, the identity theft, the laundering of the money through his companies.