Chương 3
Lily thought carefully.
She had learned from her mother that details mattered.
“He said the company was being stolen tonight.”
James closed his eyes.
“Anything else?”
“He said it worked because nobody thought it was possible.”
James did not move.
Then he slowly sat down in the chair beside the desk.
For a few seconds, he looked like someone who had forgotten where he was.
Catherine had seen that expression before.
Not on executives.
On people waiting outside hospitals.
On parents sitting beside sick children.
On people receiving news that changed the shape of their lives.
“What happened?” she asked.
James looked at the folder.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
His voice became quieter.
“It’s the problem.”
A sound came from the hallway.
The elevator again.
This time two people stepped out.
A security officer named Daniel Ruiz and a young woman from Bennett Industries’ legal department.
Catherine recognized her from the lobby.
Rebecca Hall.
She always wore sharp suits and carried a tablet covered in small stickers from universities and conferences.
She looked surprised to see Catherine and Lily.
Then she looked at James.
“What happened?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Rebecca’s eyes moved to the folder.
Then to James.
Then back.
“You opened it?”
James stood.
“No.”
The lie came too quickly.
Rebecca noticed.
So did Catherine.
The lawyer’s expression changed.
“James.”
“I said I didn’t open it.”
“Then why are you holding your hand like that?”
Everyone looked down.
James had been gripping the edge of the desk.
He released it slowly.
Rebecca stepped forward.
“Where is Maxwell?”
“No one knows,” Catherine said.
The lawyer looked at her.
For a second, Catherine expected dismissal.
Instead, Rebecca asked, “Who are you?”
“Catherine Parker.”
“And why are you involved?”
Catherine looked at Lily.
“Because my daughter answered his phone.”
Rebecca glanced at Lily.
“His phone?”
“The private office line.”
Rebecca’s face changed.
“Who called?”
“A man named Chen Wei.”
The name created another silence.
Rebecca looked at James.
This time, nobody missed the reaction.
“Who is Chen Wei?” Daniel asked.
James walked toward the window.
“He was an engineer.”
“Was?”
“He worked for one of our overseas manufacturing partners.”
“Why is he calling a private line?”
James did not answer.
Rebecca’s patience disappeared.
“James.”
“He was fired.”
“By who?”
James looked back.
“Me.”
Catherine felt Lily’s hand touch her coat sleeve.
A small movement.
A reminder that her daughter was still there.
“Why?” Rebecca asked.
“Because he found something.”
“What?”
James looked at the blue folder.
“I thought he was wrong.”
The words came slowly.
Almost painfully.
“What did he find?”
James sat down again.
“A group of accounts connected to a company we never heard of.”
Rebecca frowned.
“Shell companies?”
“Yes.”
“Owned by who?”
James looked toward the empty chair behind Maxwell Bennett’s desk.
“I don’t know.”
The answer sounded strange.
A person admitting ignorance in a room where everyone expected answers.
Catherine studied him.
She still did not trust him.
But she believed something else now.
James Wilson was afraid.
The question was whether he was afraid because he had done something wrong.
Or because he had finally realized someone else had.
Daniel’s radio crackled.
The sound made everyone turn.
“Security to forty-seventh floor.”
The voice on the radio sounded tense.
Daniel lifted it.
“This is Ruiz.”
A pause followed.
Then his expression changed.
“What do you mean the cameras were disabled?”
Nobody spoke.
Daniel listened for several seconds.
“Who authorized maintenance?”
Another pause.
“No.”
His voice lowered.
“Do not let anyone leave the building.”
Catherine felt her stomach tighten.
Rebecca stepped closer.
“What happened?”
Daniel looked at the group.
“Someone accessed the security system from inside the tower.”
James whispered something.
“What?”
Catherine asked.
He looked at her.
“Maxwell’s office.”
The room went still.
“The system was accessed using his credentials.”
Lily stared at the computer on the desk.
The same computer beside the blue folder.
The same desk where someone had already been.
Catherine slowly looked at James.
“Your friend’s credentials.”
James did not respond.
Because he already understood the question.
And because nobody in the room wanted to say the answer out loud.
If Maxwell Bennett’s account had been used from inside his own office, then someone was either trying to frame him.
Or Maxwell Bennett himself was the person who had started it.
Because he already understood the question.
And because nobody in the room wanted to say the answer out loud.
If Maxwell Bennett’s account had been used from inside his own office, then someone was either trying to frame him.
Or Maxwell Bennett himself was the person who had started it.
James stayed silent long enough that Rebecca stopped waiting for him to speak.
“Daniel,” she said, “can you confirm where the access came from?”
The security officer touched his radio again.
“Not yet.”
“How long?”
“I said not yet.”
The sharpness in his voice surprised everyone.
Daniel Ruiz was usually the kind of security officer who apologized when someone bumped into him.
Tonight he sounded like someone trying to keep a door closed while something pushed from the other side.
Rebecca folded her arms.
“Who else knows about this?”
“Right now?”
Daniel looked around the office.
“Everyone standing here.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No.”
He glanced toward the hallway.
“The system automatically notified the security desk.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning if someone in security is watching the alerts, they know something happened.”
Rebecca looked frustrated.
“That could be half the building.”
“Or the person who did it.”
Nobody liked hearing that.
Lily moved closer to Catherine.
She had stopped feeling curious.
Curiosity had a different feeling now.
It felt heavier.
Like picking up a book and realizing it was not a story.
Catherine noticed her daughter’s face.
“You okay?”
Lily nodded.
But children were terrible liars when they were trying to protect their parents.
“I shouldn’t have answered,” Lily whispered.
Catherine turned toward her immediately.
“No.”
“But—”
“No.”
Her mother’s voice softened.
May you like
“You thought someone needed help.”
“I touched his phone.”
