Chapter 13 - The Woman in Red
Marin Quinn was not in the bar Stella remembered.
She was across the street, sitting inside a laundromat with a red coat folded over her knees.
Wyatt spotted her first.
"That's your accountant?"
"That's her."
Stella crossed the street alone.
Wyatt did not like it, but she insisted.
Marin looked up the instant Stella entered.
Her face drained of color.
"You're alive."
Stella stopped.
"You knew I might not be?"
Marin looked toward the window.
"Is Pierce with you?"
"He's in jail because your friends framed him."
"They're not my friends."
"Then talk."
Marin stood. "Not here."
They moved into the laundromat's small supply hallway while Wyatt watched the front.
Marin pressed both hands against her face.
"Dean said you would deliver the package and disappear. He said nobody would ask questions because everybody would assume Pierce did it."
Stella felt cold.
"What does disappear mean?"
Marin looked ashamed. "I didn't ask."
"You should have."
"I know."
Stella stared at her. "What is Pier 19?"
Marin's head snapped up.
"Where did you hear that?"
Stella showed her the key card.
Marin sat down hard on a box of detergent.
"That's where Dean keeps the original ledger."
"The blue one?"
"Yes."
Wyatt stepped into the hallway. "Why there?"
Marin hesitated.
"Because the warehouse belongs to a company Hale seized years ago. Nobody looks twice at it. They use it as a transfer point for records, cash, and counterfeit medical shipments before the paperwork gets rewritten."
Stella thought of Gabriel's video.
"How many people know?"
"Enough to keep it running. Not enough to survive if the ledger goes public."
"Why does Dean pay you twenty thousand a month?"
Marin's laugh was hollow.
"Because I built the books."
Wyatt's face hardened.
"Then you're part of it."
"I was."
"Convenient tense."
Marin reached into her purse slowly and removed a tiny voice recorder.
"I started recording Dean eight months ago. Hale too. I thought if I had enough, I could trade it for immunity."
Stella looked at the device.
"What's on it?"
"Dean admitting what happened to Gabriel. Hale talking about the Friday plan. Nico naming two police captains."
Wyatt held out his hand.
Marin pulled the recorder back.
"No. I give this to a prosecutor who can protect me."
Stella stepped closer. "You watched Dean destroy my life."
Marin's eyes filled.
"Yes."
"Then stop protecting yourself for five minutes and tell me how to get the ledger."
Marin swallowed.
"You can't. Not tonight. Dean moved it."
"Where?"
"He gave it to the one person Jonah Pierce will never suspect."
Wyatt's expression changed.
"Who?"
May you like
Marin looked straight at him.
"Rachel Sloan."
