Chapter 4 - THE DETECTIVE WITH TWO STORIES
Detective Naomi Brooks was forty, sharp-eyed, and entirely unimpressed by my fear.
We sat in a twenty-four-hour diner beneath fluorescent lights.
She ordered black coffee.
I ordered nothing.
"How long have you been investigating Vale?" I asked.
"Long enough."
"That isn't an answer."
"Neither is pretending you're just a waitress."
I folded my arms.
"What do you want?"
"Information."
"About Adrian?"
"About Raymond Keller."
That surprised me.
Naomi opened a folder containing photographs of freight facilities, bank transfers, and two men I didn't recognize.
"Raymond has been moving money through shell companies for at least three years."
"Why haven't you arrested him?"
"Because financial crimes are only part of the operation."
She slid a photograph toward me.
It showed a warehouse near the river.
"Three men disappeared after refusing to transfer ownership of their businesses. Two later turned up dead."
My stomach tightened.
"You're saying Raymond killed them?"
"I'm saying the evidence points toward people working for him."
"And Adrian?"
Naomi watched me.
"That's the question."
I didn't like the way she said it.
"You think Adrian knows?"
"I think men who build empires around secrecy eventually lose control of what happens inside them."
I looked down at the photographs.
One victim was a father of three.
Another owned a trucking company.
The third had been an accountant.
Oliver Grant.
"Is Oliver dead?" I whispered.
"We don't know."
I leaned back.
Naomi closed the folder.
"I want you to keep investigating the books."
"Without telling Adrian?"
"Yes."
"Then you're asking me to deceive the man who hired me."
"I'm asking you to help stop people from disappearing."
She left a card on the table.
"If you find proof of violent crimes, call me before anyone else."
I didn't promise.
The next morning, Adrian arrived at the office carrying two coffees.
He placed one beside my laptop.
"Black. Two sugars."
I looked up.
"How did you know?"
"You ordered it at Bellamy House every Sunday."
"You noticed?"
"I notice more than people think."
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he placed another file on my desk.
"Raymond approved an emergency transfer last night."
"How much?"
"Eight million."
"To whom?"
"Northbridge Capital."
My throat tightened.
Nathan.
Adrian watched my reaction.
"You're going to tell me something."
I thought of Naomi.
I thought of my father.
Then I made a decision.
"Your operations chief is preparing to strip your companies of their remaining assets."
Adrian's expression turned cold.
"How certain?"
"Certain enough to bet my career."
He looked at me for a long moment.
"Then we stop him."
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because I want every name involved."
Adrian leaned against the desk.
"And how do you propose we get them?"
May you like
I turned my laptop toward him.
"By making them think they've already won."
