Chapter 9 - The Corrupt Detective
Charlotte and Ethan escaped through a ventilation exit behind the storage building.
Fire engines arrived minutes later.
Detective Pike disappeared before anyone saw him.
Charlotte wanted to go directly to federal authorities.
Ethan stopped her.
“Pike has spent fifteen years building relationships inside law enforcement.”
“Then who do we trust?”
“A prosecutor named Lena Brooks.”
Charlotte knew the name.
Assistant United States Attorney.
Known for financial corruption cases.
Ethan had contacted her weeks earlier.
They met Lena in the back room of a closed restaurant.
Charlotte placed the surviving letter on the table.
Lena read it carefully.
“This is serious.”
“My father was murdered.”
“Possibly.”
“My mother was murdered.”
Lena looked at Ethan.
“The toxicology report helps.”
Charlotte leaned forward.
“Daniel confessed.”
Ethan played the cemetery recording.
Daniel’s voice filled the room.
Your mother drank the same tea every night.
Malcolm.
Lena listened twice.
“It’s useful.”
“Useful?”
Charlotte stared at her.
“He confessed to poisoning her.”
“He implied involvement.”
Charlotte clenched her jaw.
Lena remained calm.
“If I move too early, Daniel’s attorneys will bury this.”
“So we wait until someone else dies?”
“No.”
Lena closed the laptop.
“We build a case Daniel cannot survive.”
She pointed toward the financial records.
“Money is usually easier to prove than murder.”
Charlotte remembered Vivian.
“Geneva.”
Lena looked at her.
“What?”
“Vivian told me to ask Daniel about Geneva.”
Ethan opened a map.
Solmere Holdings had several European accounts.
One private banking relationship was headquartered in Geneva.
Lena nodded.
“If stolen corporate assets moved through Swiss accounts, there may be records.”
Charlotte’s phone vibrated.
A message from Vivian.
Only two words.
HELP ME.
Then a location.
Penthouse 1701.
Solmere Hotel.
Charlotte stood.
Ethan blocked her.
“No.”
“She’s asking for help.”
“She almost got us burned alive.”
“She warned us.”
“After Daniel discovered the locker.”
Charlotte looked at him.
“She knows something.”
Lena agreed.
“Bring her here.”
Charlotte returned to Solmere Hotel.
The lobby was almost empty.
Employees stared as she passed.
Nobody tried to stop her now.
Penthouse 1701 was unlocked.
Charlotte entered.
Vivian stood beside the window.
Her face was bruised.
One eye was swollen.
Charlotte stopped.
“Daniel did that?”
Vivian nodded.
“Because I gave you the locker.”
Charlotte closed the door.
“Come with me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
Vivian turned.
“There’s something you need to know first.”
She opened a safe.
Inside were banking ledgers.
Photographs.
Passports.
And a video recorder.
“Daniel keeps copies of everything.”
Charlotte stared.
“Why?”
“Leverage.”
Vivian handed her one ledger.
“Geneva accounts.”
Charlotte looked through the pages.
Hundreds of millions.
Names.
Payments.
Politicians.
Judges.
Executives.
Then Charlotte saw another name.
Ethan Cole.
She froze.
The payment beside his name was five million dollars.
Dated two weeks before Elizabeth Vale died.
Charlotte looked at Vivian.
“What is this?”
Vivian’s expression was grim.
“Ask your fiancé.”
“Former fiancé.”
Vivian almost smiled.
“You might want to make it former everything.”
Charlotte felt cold.
“What did Daniel pay Ethan for?”
May you like
Vivian looked toward the door.
“To make sure you left New York before your mother died.”
