Chapter 11 - The Picture That Changed Everything
Naomi turned her phone over before Ethan could see. She walked calmly to the restroom, locked herself in a stall, and sent the photograph to Detective Price.
He called immediately. “Where are you?”
“Second-floor restroom.”
“Stay there.”
Minutes later, two uniformed officers escorted her to a secure conference room. She hated that it felt like being arrested for telling the truth.
Price put the photo on a screen. Ethan's message was clear. The recipient number matched a burner phone linked to Victor Sloane. It wasn't enough by itself to establish everything that had happened, but it changed the urgency of the search.
Naomi rubbed her temples. “I worked for him three years. I watched him fire people. I brought him coffee when he ruined their lives.”
“You didn't order those acts,” Price said.
“I helped make his days easier.”
“Then help make this day harder for him.”
She opened a password manager on her office laptop and pointed to a folder she had never been permitted to touch. EXECUTIVE PRIVATE ARCHIVE. Ethan had told her it contained confidential investor materials. Naomi knew the folder had been restored from backups every month, even though Ethan claimed the files were deleted.
With proper authorization, Malcolm accessed the archive. Inside were contracts, bank instructions, and recordings of calls. One audio file included Richard Vale's voice from years earlier.
“I never authorized this transfer,” Richard said sharply.
A second voice, younger and impatient, replied, “Dad, the signature is already done. Nobody checks old deeds.”
Ethan.
Benjamin listened with his hands gripping the edge of the table. Richard had not been the mastermind after all. His old partner had discovered the theft before he died.
The recording ended with Richard saying, “Tomorrow I tell Ben everything.”
Richard suffered his fatal stroke that same evening. The timing might have been coincidence; it might not. Nobody in the room pretended they knew yet.
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Then a second recording began automatically. Ethan's voice said, “If my father changes his mind,
Victor knows what to do.”
