Page 69 of Reckless Chance

He opens his laptop, connects it to the 70-inch display on the wall at the end of the table, and pulls up a presentation. “We have several items to cover. I’ve organized everything into a few PowerPoint slides to make it easier. If you don’t mind, I’d like to start with your question about the guy who claims to be an attorney named Taylor Williams.”

“Did you identify him?” Lowri asks.

“Yes. We isolated his image, and using our facial recognition software, we found a match. Let me show you. Here’s the photo we extracted from the video of your meeting with him. It matched with this image,” he says, pointing to side-by-side images on the display.

“Oh my god, that’s him,” Lowri says.

“Who is he?” I ask.

“He’s an actor. His real name is Dylan Greyson.”

“That explains why he had such a limited knowledge of the law and negotiation tactics. Someone must have hired him to play Taylor Williams.”

“It also explains why someone hacked the real law firm’s website—to hide that he’s not the attorney. If you couldn’t easily find the photo of Ms. Williams, there would be no reason to suspect the person you met was a fraud,” Daniel says.

“Exactly. Dylan must have based his character on movies and television shows with a little help from Google,” Lowri says.

“How bizarre. Why would Mr. Galanis bring a fake attorney?” I ask.

“My guess is that either he’s a fake too, or he couldn’t afford a real attorney. I’m leaning toward fake given I couldn’t find any online connection between Galanis and Brentwood,” Lowri says.

“Someone needs to talk with Greyson today,” I say.

“We have an address for him. Do you want us to give him a visit or should we call Detective Fielder and have him follow up?”

“I’d prefer you visit him, but I suspect Lowri will tell us to contact the police. Am I right?” I ask, turning to face her.

“You are. If he’s part of a scam, you should inform the police.”

“You heard her. Get this to our detective friend ASAP.”

“Will do. There’s more though. We found additional videos of the tree prop before and during the performance where Mr. Brentwood fell.”

“What does it show?” I ask.

Daniel types on his laptop, and a video starts playing on the large screen on the wall.

“We’re looking at the area backstage where the tree was kept until it was needed onstage. Keep watching, and you’ll see one of the members of the stage crew approach the tree in a minute or so.”

With no audio to assist, Lowri and I closely watch the scene unfold in front of us. The dim, grainy video shows various performers and stagehands walking past. No one stops or pays attention to the prop.

“Get ready for it,” Daniel says.

A person in jeans and a blue polo shirt, imprinted with the Athena logo, walks up to the tree and opens the door in the trunk, disappearing inside.

“Is he loosening the screws?” Lowri asks.

“Not likely. See what happens next.”

A minute or two later, he comes out, shuts the door, and grabs a nearby ladder. He places the ladder next to the tree and climbs up onto the platform. We watch as he appears to inspect the railing, branches, and wiring.

“Oh my god, he’s stomping on the platform. Why doesn’t it give way?” Lowri asks.

“Because at this point, the platform is secure.”

“When was this video?”

“This was about thirty minutes before the doors opened for the audience to take their seats.”