Chapter 15 - Celia Voss
Claire gripped the back of a chair. "Celia."
"I remember you as a brave little girl," the woman said. "Now you have a little girl of your own. How inconvenient for you."
"Stay away from her," Claire replied.
"Then come to the clinic."
Vega motioned for Claire to keep the call going while a technician traced it. Celia was patient, almost pleasant, which made the threats worse.
"Your mother stole company property," Celia said. "You have something I need."
"The records are with the police."
"Not all of them. There's a second ledger inside a wall safe. The code is something only your mother told you."
Claire closed her eyes. "I don't remember."
"You will."
The call ended before the trace completed. The location pinged near a truck stop fifteen miles away, almost certainly a disposable device.
Reed joined the briefing by video. He'd been cleared after investigators found that Martin had bribed a private security contractor with access to motel reservations. Reed looked exhausted and angry.
"Celia Voss has corporate layers between herself and every crime," he said. "We need her ordering something, or a witness who can testify."
"Daniel," I said.
"Maybe. But he's asked for immunity, and prosecutors haven't agreed."
At the clinic, a surveillance unit watched two vehicles arrive at dawn. Neither contained Celia. One was driven by a young man carrying a cardboard box. He left it beside the loading dock and drove away.
Bomb technicians checked it. Inside were copies of old adoption records and a photograph of Claire's mother, Evelyn Bennett, smiling beside a teenage girl.
That teenage girl was Celia Voss.
"They knew each other," Claire whispered.
On the photograph's back, in Evelyn's handwriting, were the words: CELIA KNOWS WHO PAID. ASK HER ABOUT THE NIGHT WE SWITCHED THE FILES.
Claire stared at the handwriting for a long time.
Then she said, "My mother didn't just uncover the scheme."
May you like
Her voice cracked.
"She helped start it."
