CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Mr. Mansur, you’ve got yourself into some deep shit here,” smirked Georgie. The two guards started to leave the room, but she called them back. “Please stay. I’ll be addressing Officer Austin in a moment.”

“Me? Why me?” he asked, appearing to be shocked.

“Mr. Austin, allowing prisoners to use your personal cell phone device to call outside of the facility is strictly prohibited. You’ve risked your job for a little money. How much?”

“I’m not answering that,” he scowled at Georgie. Carl and Aiden stood from the table, walking toward him, and he swallowed. “Five grand. He gave me five grand.”

“Thank you for that,” Georgie said, nodding toward the other guard. “You can take him out of here now.”

“It’s his word against mine,” said Mansur. “I highly doubt someone will believe a prison guard over a well-known, respected attorney.”

“Please,” laughed Georgie. “You’re neither well-known nor respected. We have the text messages to your son, we have the deposit made by the guard, and we have footage of your lovely, although somewhat intoxicated wife, bringing you an envelope with cash in it. Now, there are a whole bunch of people who will have to answer for how she got that to you, but that’s not my problem right now.”

Mansur stared at the woman who was besting him at every turn. He looked down at his hands, dry and chapped. He needed a manicure and a massage, but unless he wanted to take up the offer made by one of the prisoners, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

“Where was he going? He said west, but where?” asked Georgie.

Again, Mansur was silent, just staring down at the table.

“I must say, Mr. Mansur, I do admire your love for your son,” said Aiden. “I mean, a young man who has done nothing except cause you trouble his entire life. Nearly kicked out of undergraduate school until you stepped in. Barely graduated from law school and probably would have been working in some country law office had you not owned a firm.

“But tell me, what has he done for you? Because from what I’m seeing all he’s done is create issues for you and your firm. You’ve lost contracts because of him, partners, and your wife’s drinking seems to have increased. Yet he’s out there, free for now, and you’re in prison, unlikely to leave or make bail.”

“I’ll make bail,” he grinned.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” laughed Ham. “We’ve made sure of that. You see, your assets, as of twenty-one minutes ago, are all frozen. Your law firm refuses to put up the bail as they don’t want to risk the possible repercussions. You, sir, are what we would say, up shit creek without a paddle.”

“Mr. Mansur, your son is not going to escape. We’ve notified law enforcement agencies that he is making his way west, possibly through Lexington, Kentucky,” said Aiden.

Again, Mansur was quiet for a long moment, just looking down at the table, twisting his hands nervously.

“I don’t know where he’s going. I just knew that you all had somehow intercepted our messages and got into his phone. I told him to leave. My wife said she’d sent money to a cash pickup location, even though I’d left him almost fifty thousand dollars.”

“How much?” asked Georgie. “How much did she send him?”

“Seventy-five thousand. It was apparently the maximum they would take via wire transfer. Knowing her, she would have sent him the entire amount in the account if she could have.” He frowned, shaking his head. “He’s our only child. I was just trying to give him a good life.”

“A good life doesn’t include covering for an alcoholic who killed three people,” said Aiden.

“He killed one person who was pregnant,” said Mansur.

“Do not piss me off,” said Ham. “That poor woman was ready to deliver twins. Twins who were fully developed and alive when he killed their mother. Your son killed three people. Even the courts would agree.”

“Fine. He killed three people, but his fiancée betrayed him.”

“You really are delusional, aren’t you?” said Sophia Ann softly. “She was a doctor who legally had to notify the police that a crime had been committed, and she had the criminal in her hospital. She did what was expected of her, and all he’s done is torment her for almost five years.”

“I’m not going to argue about this with you. It’s obviously pointless,” said Georgie. “Do you have any other residences that your son might go to? Family? Friends?”

“No.” They all looked at him in disbelief. “I’m serious. We own no other properties, and most of his friends have deserted him. I don’t know anyone who’s stayed in touch with him. They damn sure never asked how he was doing. He went west toward Lexington. That’s all I know.”

The team stood, knocking on the door as two federal agents came in.

“What’s this?” panicked Mansur.

“This is your escort to a federal prison, Mr. Mansur, where you will be placed in solitary. For your own protection, of course. If we need anything, I’ll reach out to the federal prison officials,” said Georgie.

“Do I get to call my counsel?”

“Your counsel has declined involvement in this matter any further. A new counsel will be appointed to you,” smirked Georgie. “Now, if you have anything else you’d like to tell us, please enlighten me. Otherwise, these lovely gentlemen will be taking you to your new home.”

With Mansur silent, the two federal guards gripped his arms forcefully, handcuffing him and placing a parka over his head. As he left the minimum-security facility, the VG team just stared at him.

“What now?” asked Sophia Ann.

“Now, we go home, and the team is going to have to put together a manhunt of epic proportions. If I had to guess, they’re going through traffic cameras from Lexington and continuing westward,” said Carl. Georgie kissed her husband’s cheek, nodding.

“Let’s go home.”