“Transfer.”
“Something about trust shares.”
Agent Singh leaned forward.
“Did you ever sign?”
“I don’t think.”
“Some signatures may have been forged.”
“How did they declare you dead?”
Julian’s eyes hardened.
“I didn’t know until years later.”
“Facility called me Michael Rowan.”
“No outside contact.”
“Staff said court order.”
“Dr. Kessler said family requested privacy.”
“I tried tell nurses who I was.”
“They wrote delusion.”
“Every time I became clearer, medication changed.”
Adrian stood abruptly.
He walked to wall.
Could not sit.
Julian continued:
“After five years, a nurse believed me.”
“Teresa Molina.”
“She checked newspaper archives.”
“She found my obituary.”
Agent Singh wrote.
“She confronted administrator.”
“Next day she was fired.”
“Then transferred?”
“I don’t know.”
“I spent years pretending worse than I was.”
“Why?”
“So they’d stop watching.”
His voice shook.
“Last year Northbridge sold building.”
“Records moved.”
“Security changed.”
“I stole a phone.”
“Called Teresa.”
“She still had copies.”
“She helped.”
“Three weeks ago I left.”
“Just walked?”
“Through laundry loading bay.”
Adrian turned.
“Why didn’t you come to police?”
“I did.”
“What?”
“State police desk.”
“I said I was Julian Duca.”
“They checked.”
“Told me Julian Duca dead.”
“I had no ID.”
“Looked homeless.”
“They suggested shelter.”
Agent Singh’s face tightened.
Julian smiled bitterly.
“Dead man paperwork stronger than living man face.”
“How did you find ring?”
“I followed Mercer.”
“You followed him?”
“Teresa gave me money.”
“I stayed motel.”
“Watched office.”
“Mercer keeps townhouse in Back Bay.”
“I got inside while he was at board dinner.”
“How?”
Julian almost smiled.
“You taught me locks.”
Adrian stared.
“When?”
“Teenagers.”
“That was car doors.”
“Principle.”
Agent Singh looked unimpressed.
Julian continued:
“I found safe behind painting.”
“Ring.”
“Copies of trust documents.”
“Old medical bills to Kessler.”
“I photographed what I could.”
“Then alarm.”
“I ran.”
“Where photos?”
Julian looked toward Adrian.
“Behind your library wall.”
Adrian froze.
“I came to house because Dad kept original pension trust ledger in hidden passage safe.”
“I needed proof from before digital records.”
“Pierce caught me.”
“When?”
“Two nights ago.”
“He recognized you?”
“Yes.”
“He nearly shot me.”
“No guns fired.”
“He dragged me into service room.”
“Locked.”
“Why not kill?”
Julian’s face tightened.
“He wanted phone.”
“I had already hidden it.”
“Where?”
“Inside old dumbwaiter vent.”
Adrian looked at Singh.
“We need it.”
“Police search house now.”
Julian continued: