Chapter 11 - Caroline Was Alive
Nathan dropped the phone.
It hit the hospital floor but didn’t break.
He stared at it as if it had become a weapon.
“That’s not possible.”
I picked it up.
The woman in the image looked older than the pictures I had seen online. Thinner. Dark hair cut to her jaw. A pale scar ran from her eyebrow to her temple.
But it was Caroline.
Same eyes.
Same small crescent-shaped birthmark near her chin.
Nathan sat down.
“I watched them bury her.”
Ortiz asked, “Closed casket?”
He looked up.
“Yes.”
That answer changed the room.
The detective made calls. Quiet ones. Federal ones. Within thirty minutes, two agents from a financial crimes task force arrived.
The case was no longer just attempted murder.
It was fraud, conspiracy, identity manipulation, possibly witness concealment, and whatever had happened to Caroline fourteen years earlier.
The agents wanted us nowhere near the warehouse.
Then Caroline called.
Her voice was rough.
“Nathan.”
He almost couldn’t answer.
“Caroline?”
“You need to listen carefully. Marcus has Evan. Richard doesn’t control him anymore.”
“Where have you been?”
“No time.”
“You were dead.”
“I was supposed to be.”
Nathan covered his mouth.
I took the phone. “Why does Marcus want me?”
Silence.
Then Caroline said, “Because your company built the software he needs.”
“What software?”
“The predictive routing engine.”
My stomach dropped.
Our routing engine could optimize logistics across thousands of variables in real time. We built it for medical supply chains and disaster relief.
In the wrong hands, it could route anything.
Weapons.
Cash.
People.
“Richard wanted my company for Marcus?”
“No,” Caroline said. “Richard wanted it so Marcus couldn’t get it.”
That was not the answer I expected.
Nathan looked at me.
Caroline continued, “Your future father-in-law is a criminal. But tonight, he may not be the most dangerous one.”
I thought of Richard’s voice at the lake.
You already did.
“You expect me to trust him?”
“No. I expect you to trust nobody.”
A metallic bang sounded on Caroline’s end.
She whispered, “He’s coming.”
“Caroline, wait.”
“Midnight. If you don’t come, Evan dies.”
The line disconnected.
Nathan stared at the blank screen.
Then Ortiz’s phone rang.
May you like
She answered, listened, and swore.
Richard Vale had vanished from police custody.
