Chương 7
“Did you alter the files after copying them?”
“No.”
“Did you send them anywhere?”
“No.”
“Did anyone else see them?”
“No.”
“Do you know what’s on this card?”
“Vendor records, approvals, internal emails, payment summaries, and screenshots of three deleted calendar entries.”
“Whose calendar?”
“Marcus’s.”
“What entries?”
“Meetings with vendors.”
“Which vendors?”
“Two of the three suspicious ones.”
Park’s expression changed.
“Names.”
Chloe gave them.
I had never heard either company.
Park wrote them down.
Then she asked, “And the third vendor?”
Chloe looked at the cup holding the card.
“Redwood Strategic Services.”
Park’s pen stopped.
“Why is that one different?”
“Because I couldn’t find any employees.”
“Maybe it’s small.”
“No payroll footprint in the documents I saw.”
“That proves nothing by itself.”
“I know.”
“What else?”
Chloe swallowed.
“The mailing address.”
Park waited.
“It’s a private mailbox.”
“Also not unusual.”
“I checked the registration before Marcus caught me.”
“And?”
“The registered agent is Vanessa Cole.”
Silence filled the room.
The mistress was not merely arriving for Thanksgiving dinner.
She was tied to one of the vendors receiving company money.
Park slowly capped her pen.
“How much went to Redwood?”
“Just under four hundred thousand dollars over fourteen months.”
I felt the old part of my brain begin assembling possibilities.
False invoices.
Kickbacks.
Conflict of interest.
Embezzlement.
Maybe none of those.
Maybe something less dramatic and more legal.
I forced myself not to get ahead of the evidence.
Park did the same.
“Who approved the payments?”
“Marcus approved some.”
“Some?”
“The rest were approved by another executive.”
“Who?”
Chloe looked at me before answering.
“His CEO.”
That changed the room again.
Park’s voice became quieter.
“The CEO who is currently at Marcus’s house for Thanksgiving?”
“Supposed to be.”
My phone vibrated on the counter.
This time it was not Marcus.
It was an unknown number.
Park looked at the preview before I touched it.
Eleanor, this is David Mercer.
Marcus says Chloe has taken proprietary company material.
I need to speak with you immediately before this gets out of control.
Chloe saw my face.
“Who is it?”
I turned the phone toward her.
She read the name.
Then the monitor beside her began beeping faster.
Park read the message over my shoulder.
“Is that the CEO?”
“Yes.”
Chloe gripped the blanket.
“He’s involved.”
“You don’t know that,” I said.
“He approved the payments.”
“That means he approved payments.”
“You’re doing it again.”
“I’m keeping us from making claims we can’t prove.”
Park held out her hand.
“Give me the phone.”
I did.
Another message arrived from Mercer before she finished photographing the first.
Marcus has called corporate counsel.
No police need to be involved.
We can resolve this privately.
Park looked at me.
Then she looked at Chloe.
“Now that,” she said, “is something I would very much like him to explain.”
Park read Mercer’s message one more time, then handed the phone back without letting me reply.
“Do not contact him yet.”
Chloe stared at the ceiling.
“He knows.”
“He knows you have something,” Park said.
“That is not the same as knowing what.”
“He approved the payments.”
“So far, that means his name appears on approvals.”
Park’s tone stayed level.
“That could matter a lot, or it could matter less than you think.”
Chloe looked at me.
“You two are exhausting.”
“Occupational overlap,” I said.
Park ignored me.
“Tell me about Mercer.”
“What about him?”
“Everything that affects why he would care about those vendors.”
Chloe adjusted herself against the pillows and winced.
“He’s been CEO for six years.”
“How big is the company?”
“Publicly traded.”
Park’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“That raises the temperature.”
“I know.”
“Does Marcus report directly to him?”
“No, but his promotion moved him two levels closer.”
“What does Marcus actually do?”
“Corporate procurement strategy.”
That answer mattered immediately.
Park heard it too.
“He has influence over vendors.”
“Yes.”
“Selection?”
“Recommendations, renewals, spending thresholds, supplier consolidation.”
“Direct authority?”
“Some.”
“Enough to steer business?”
“Yes.”
Park wrote for several seconds.
“Did Marcus ever discuss Redwood with you before you found it?”
“No.”
“Vanessa?”
“Only after I caught the affair.”
“Did you know where she worked?”
“He told me she was an independent consultant.”
“That could be true.”
“It could.”
Chloe sounded annoyed at herself for conceding it.
Park noticed.
“Do not decide guilt first and fit facts around it.”
Chloe gave her a tired look.
“My husband assaulted me.”
“I am not questioning that allegation right now.”
“You sound like you are.”
“I am separating it from the money.”
“Why?”
“Because if the money is dirty, it needs to survive scrutiny from people who will attack every assumption you made.”
That silenced Chloe.
I had delivered versions of the same lecture to agents years earlier, usually after they became emotionally attached to a theory.
Hearing it directed at my daughter was painful.
It was also necessary.
Park continued.
“How did you connect Vanessa to Redwood?”
“State business registry.”
“On your phone?”
“Marcus’s laptop.”
“His personal laptop?”
“Work laptop.”
“How did you access the registry?”
“Public website.”
“And how did you know which Vanessa Cole was his Vanessa Cole?”
“Same middle initial.”
“That is weak.”
“Same mailing address on an older filing.”
“Address where?”
Chloe hesitated.
“A condo.”
“How did you know it belonged to her?”
“I searched county property records.”
Park nodded.
“Public.”
“Yes.”
“Anything else connecting her?”
“An email.”
“What email?”
Chloe stared at her hands.
“That was in Marcus’s account.”
Park waited.
“It was from Vanessa.”
“What did it say?”
“Not much.”
“Then tell me the not much.”
“She asked whether the November invoice should stay below fifty.”
“Fifty what?”
“Thousand.”
Park’s pen stopped again.
“Exact wording?”
“I don’t remember exactly.”
“Good.”
Chloe blinked.
Park pointed the pen at her.
“Do not improve your memory because you think detail helps.”
“I’m not.”
“I know.”
She wrote another note.
“Was there a reply?”
“Yes.”
“From Marcus?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“Keep the same structure.”
May you like
“Anything else?”
“He said Mercer wanted consistency until year-end.”
