Chapter 16 - What Was Hidden at Home
The second set of records was inside Graham’s mansion.
Victor had hidden them in the locked study behind a false panel. The same study where Graham had spent years taking calls, signing documents, and congratulating himself on being indispensable.
Nina’s team searched the room. Behind a shelf of business books, they found a narrow safe. Graham entered the code he had used for years.
It opened.
Inside were hard drives, forged contracts, and a stack of envelopes addressed to Graham. The dates stretched back more than a decade.
He opened the first.
It was a letter from Daniel Hart, warning him about suspicious transfers.
The letter had been marked RECEIVED and then filed away.
Graham stared at the stamp.
“Someone gave this to me.”
Martha stood in the doorway. Her face had gone pale.
“I did,” she said.
Graham turned. “You knew?”
“I delivered it to your office. Victor came to the house that night. He said Daniel was dangerous and that you were too busy to deal with another crisis.”
“You knew Elise was alive?”
Martha shook her head. “Not then. I knew the accident story didn’t make sense. I kept asking questions. Victor told me he could have me arrested for stealing from the house.”
Graham’s anger softened into something heavier.
“You should have told me.”
“I tried. You never came home.”
He had no answer.
Nina examined the hard drives. “This is enough to establish a pattern, but we still need the transfer instructions for tomorrow’s payment.”
Graham checked the calendar. The employee relief fund transfer was scheduled for 9:00 a.m.
“Then we stop it.”
A message arrived from Victor.
I KNOW YOU FOUND THE SAFE. COME TO THE OLD GARAGE AT MIDNIGHT. BRING THE LEDGER. COME ALONE.
Graham showed Nina.
“It’s a trap,” she said.
“Of course it is.”
“You are not going.”
Graham looked at the photograph of his first team, recovered from a box beneath the desk. He had been twenty-three, smiling beside Victor in a rented garage. They had believed they were building something good.
“I need him to admit what he did.”
“You need to stay alive long enough to testify.”
He nodded.
May you like
Then he called Victor.
“I’ll be there.”
