The detective's frozen stare didn't shift from the doctor as he casually asked, "Have I taken leave of my senses . . . Adam?"
King stared speechless at his public relations director, who slowly lowered his hand and blinked at Midas with a bloodshot green eye. "Adam?" King whispered. There was a brown and green glare coming from King's offspring that expressed nothing but contempt and loathing. King reeled and spluttered, "Dear God! Adam! How could I have not known my own son?"
With more vehemence than Mick or King had ever heard unleashed, Adam Midas spoke, "Because you never wanted to know your son! You packed him off to boarding schools and let the staff to raise him when he was home. You never even allowed your son to enter your precious library until he came in the guise of someone as manipulative as yourself. Well, I beat you at your own game, Father!" Adam shrieked the word father as though there was no viler curse imaginable. King's pudgy, pasty face drained of what little color it possessed. He was utterly mute. Adam shifted his two-tone gaze to Loneshark, giving a Brad Barker wave of dismissal to the king.
"You're even shrewder than we expected, Detective."
"You and Sir Spiritus, the one who created the terrorist video."
Adam was stunned to silence. The hero quickly recovered and asked, "How could you possibly have discovered – "
"You had your computer expert. I had mine . . . the one you provided."
"Nerdy," Adam seethed.
Loneshark nodded. "I had Geek to execute extensive research on Brad Barker, the unfortunate young man you killed in Pinewhittle."
"Killed?" King rasped in a disbelieving whisper.
Mick momentarily shifted his gaze to the senior Mr. Midas. "Yes, sir, I'm sorry." Turning back to Adam, the detective related, "You persuaded Brad Barker to impersonate you for the year you were supposed to spend in Colorado. You found a young man who resembled you and had him undergo plastic surgery to perfect the image. I found a prescription bottle in Adam's garage. The label had been partially torn away, but the names of the doctor and clinic were still legible. That Boston doctor and clinic specialize in cosmetic surgery. Adam Midas did not arrive in Pinewhittle when he was initially scheduled. He went to Vale and supposedly had a skiing accident his first day there. That fabricated accident apparently injured his face. The next day an ambulance dropped him in front of the entrance of the resort where he spent his initial convalescence. Brad Barker, as Geek's exhaustive research uncovered, is CEO of a company named Universal Cyber Services Corporation. UCSC leased an ambulance in Denver the same week that Adam arrived at the Vale resort. You registered at the lodge, dressed in ski clothes, and departed for the rest of the day and night. The next morning you used the leased
