First Impression II: At Second Glance

Chapter Twenty-Two - The Puzzle Unravels

Cast of Characters and Summary of Events:

Sophia, Adrian's sister, works at the Hamilton bank

Evangeline Hamilton, Adrian's mother, injured in a helicopter crash two years ago that killed his father; can now walk again but remains frail; her doctor is Avery's father

Andrew Hamilton, Adrian's father, killed in a helicopter crash two years ago; was Chairman of Hamilton bank and CEO of its investment banking arm

James Hamilton, Adrian's uncle, older step-brother of Andrew; Chairman of Hamilton bank and CEO of its commercial banking arm after Andrew's death

Henry, Adrian's father's right-hand man at the bank, now demoted under James; helps Sophia uncover the truth behind the discrepancies in the auditing accounts at the bank

Philip, Adrian's godfather, a lobbyist

Manasserro, works for Moriarty, middleman between Moriarty, Palmer and James Hamilton, seen getting into Palmer's car and then, James' car by Adrian, then spotted going into an exclusive bar, The Rabbit's Hole, to meet with Palmer, Moriarty and James, again by Adrian

Palmer, Senator, close to Moriarty; has a reputation for cutting deals for big companies; lobbied for approval in the Senate for Varlowe to purchase the independent news firm Newswire; daughter, Ria Palmers

Moriarty, of Moriarty Industries, made his fortune in construction and real estate by betraying his college friend and partner Petingill; close to Palmer, sponsored him for governor and then senator; daughter, Irene Moriarty

Chapter Twenty-Two - The Puzzle Unravels

Adrian was taping up even more papers on the whiteboard when Avery entered.

Adrian jumped, hurriedly pulling a cloth over the board.

"Jeez, it's only you," Adrian said, relaxing and tossing the cloth away. "You should have knocked. I thought it was Mom."

"That's a very conspicuous thing to hide," Avery said, dumping a duffel bag at the base of Adrian's bed.

"I know, I need a secret base or something don't I?" Adrian said, looking at the whiteboard which was standing in the middle of his empty room - he had cleared everything to make way for it. "Thank god Mom doesn't come up here often. And I keep it locked when I'm out of the house."

"So, what's so urgent that you summoned us for a sleepover?" Avery asked, examining the board.

"Many bad things," Adrian muttered, running a hand through his hair in frustration. ""I'll tell you everything when the twins get here."

Said twins arrived soon after.

"So, what's up?" Edward asked as he and Edmund seated themselves.

Adrian leaned against his desk, facing them. He pointed to a couple of spreadsheets pinned to the whiteboard.

"Remember the spreadsheets I found in one of the hacker's email accounts? Sophia and Henry say those appear to be the real auditing accounts."

"As they were examining the records, they found that there was a significant sum of money missing."

Adrian paused.

"How much?" Edmund asked slowly.

Adrian stated the figure.

There was a stunned silence.

Finally, Edward blinked, letting out a low whistle. "That...is a lot."