Chapter 7 - The Car by the River

Nora's blue sedan sat near an abandoned maintenance shed, one wheel perched against a broken curb.

"Stay behind the tape," Detective Brooks told me.

The trunk opened. A man lay curled on the floor, his wrists bound with plastic ties. He was alive, barely. He had a cut above his eye and a strip of tape across his mouth.

"It's not Nora," I said, hating the relief that hit me.

The man was Leo Marsh, a junior accountant I had hired six months earlier. A paramedic removed the tape. Leo caught my sleeve.

"Don't let them run the transfer," he rasped. "The money's not staying in Chicago."

"Who did this?"

"Blake Warren. Your chief financial officer. He owns North Pier through three holding companies."

I felt the ground tilt. Blake had been my closest friend since college. He was the best man I had chosen for the wedding. He knew where my mother was buried and how I liked my coffee.

"Where's Nora?" Brooks asked.

Leo swallowed painfully. "I helped her get into the accounting server. When Blake found out, he took her to the clinic. She was hurt. He said a doctor would keep her quiet."

"Which clinic?"

He tried to answer, but a convulsion shook his shoulders. The paramedics moved between us and carried him toward an ambulance with its lights flashing.

Brooks watched the vehicle leave, then faced me. "Your CFO has access to corporate cash, building passes, personnel records, and probably your location history. Until we know more, you can't trust your office."

"I'm starting to think I can't trust my life."

Back at the station, Ellie was awake. She ran to me, then stopped as though she expected bad news.

"Did you find Mommy?"

"Not yet," I said. "But we found someone who can help."

She nodded like a grown-up forcing herself to be brave. Then she pulled a little silver button from her pocket.

"I forgot something. The man who took Mommy dropped this. It came off his coat."

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Engraved into the button was a single small letter: V.

It matched the custom buttons Blake had ordered for our company's anniversary jackets.