Thomas Pike Had Been Selling the Same Lie to Everyone

Chapter 06 - Thomas Pike Had Been Selling the Same Lie to Everyone

Thomas Pike did not come to the office voluntarily.

His lawyer did first.

Then Thomas appeared two hours later.

Forty-eight.

Perfect haircut.

Navy suit.

A face built for corporate apologies.

June did not attend.

Her choice.

Priya did.

So did an investigator from the Illinois Department of Labor after Gideon’s counsel made a formal disclosure.

That mattered.

No private family settlement.

No intimidation.

No disappearing records.

Thomas looked offended by government furniture.

Gideon almost enjoyed that.

Priya did not let Gideon lead.

Also useful.

The altered election forms were overwhelming.

One hundred forty-three confirmed so far.

Same pattern.

Original onboarding form.

Then post-signature digital edit.

Check boxes changed.

Deductions activated.

In some files, employees’ initials copied from unrelated pages.

Thomas’s admin credentials appeared repeatedly.

His defense began predictably.

“Delegated processing.”

To whom?

No answer.

Then the investigator produced access logs.

Thomas himself.

Late evenings.

Weekends.

Bulk edits.

A script.

Not occasional.

Systematic.

“Why?” Priya asked.

Thomas looked at Gideon.

Not the investigator.

That told everyone where his mind still lived.

“Because Malcolm needed the cooperative funded.”

Malcolm.

Of course.

“Did Malcolm tell you to forge forms?”

“He told me the participation rate had to increase.”

“Those are not the same sentence.”

Thomas’s mouth tightened.

Then:

“He knew.”

“Did he direct?”

“He did not tell me how.”

There.

Plausible deniability built into management.

Thomas had decided method.

Why?

Bonus structure.

His compensation included a percentage of administrative savings and cooperative performance.

The more money deducted, the better the performance looked.

He earned over $700,000 in bonuses across five years.

Plus the fake Diane Mercer Consulting account.

“Why that account?”

Thomas looked down.

Priya waited.

Silence works better when the other person has counsel.

Eventually:

“Because Diane could hurt us.”

Diane knew the system.

If she returned, she could expose it.

Thomas created a fake consulting relationship in her name.

Why pay money into it?

To make records look like Diane accepted a settlement.

If investigators came later, Blackwell could show she continued receiving monthly consulting compensation after leaving.

It would look like cooperation.

Maybe complicity.

Then Thomas withdrew the funds himself.

Not all.

Some went somewhere else.

The Nevada trust.

Owner:

MALCOLM REEVES FAMILY TRUST.

The room changed.

Malcolm had denied taking the fake Diane payments.

Bank records disagreed.

Thomas smiled slightly.

First time.

“He’s not your victim.”

Gideon had never thought Malcolm was.

Then the labor investigator asked:

“Who sent photographs of Diane’s son?”

Thomas stopped smiling.

“Not me.”

“Who?”

He looked at his lawyer.

Then:

“Malcolm.”

There.

Maybe truth.

Maybe convenient blame.

Evidence?

Thomas had one email.

No photos attached.

Malcolm:

She needs to understand this is bigger than a severance dispute. Make sure she understands family consequences.

Thomas replied:

Understood.

No explicit instruction.

Enough to smell bad.

Not enough alone.

Then came June’s name.

Thomas recognized it.

“Carter?”

Gideon’s body went still.

“Why?”

Thomas looked surprised.

“She had an exception.”

“What exception?”

“Her deductions were supposed to stop.”

June’s form had been altered when she started.

But three months later, an internal request said:

Remove all non-tax deductions for June Carter effective immediately.

Authorized by:

EVELYN BLACKWELL.

Impossible.

Evelyn had been dead more than a year before June started.

Forgery.

Another one.

Why create a fake Evelyn authorization to help June?

Someone had tried to stop stealing from her.

Who?

System metadata.

MREEVES.

Malcolm.

Gideon stared.

Malcolm had used Evelyn’s old credentials to remove June from the scheme.

But payroll showed the deductions continued.

Thomas had overridden the change two days later.

Why would Malcolm protect one housekeeper?

Nobody knew.

Thomas did.

He looked suddenly uncomfortable.

Gideon asked:

“Why June?”

Thomas said nothing.

“Mr. Pike,” the investigator warned.

Thomas exhaled.

“Because of her bracelet.”

June’s bracelet.

L and M.

Gideon frowned.

“What?”

Thomas looked toward the table.

“Malcolm saw it during a staff review.”

“Why would he care?”

“He knew what the letters meant.”

“Her children.”

“Yes.”

“That tells me nothing.”

Thomas finally looked at Gideon.

“Lila isn’t just her daughter’s name.”

Gideon’s stomach tightened.

“Whose name is it?”

“Malcolm’s sister.”

Silence.

Malcolm Reeves had a younger sister named Lila.

Gideon vaguely remembered.

Died young?

No.

Moved away?

He did not know.

Thomas continued.

“June Carter’s mother is Lila Reeves.”

Everything stopped.

June had told Gideon her mother’s name once in passing.

Lila Carter.

He assumed married name.

Her maiden name had never mattered.

Until now.

Malcolm Reeves was June’s maternal uncle.

June had never mentioned it.

Maybe she did not know.

Gideon called Priya.

She called June.

June answered from Peoria.

Priya asked one question.

“What was your mother’s maiden name?”

Silence.

Then:

“Reeves.”

Gideon closed his eyes.

“Did you know Malcolm was your uncle?”

June laughed.

Not humor.

“No.”

Her mother had told June her brother was dead.

Died before June was born.

That was the story.

Malcolm was very much alive.

Running half Gideon’s empire.

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And apparently the moment he recognized his niece working as a housekeeper under the system he had helped corrupt, he tried to stop stealing from her quietly—

without stopping the theft from anyone else.