Chapter 5 - The Flash Drive
Nobody touched the drive again that night.
Agent Chen sealed it inside an evidence bag.
Tiffany stared at it as though it contained a bomb.
Maybe it did.
Just not the explosive kind.
The officers eventually escorted Gloria out of the house after processing the assault complaint.
She was not handcuffed.
She looked almost disappointed by that.
Drama had always been easier for her than consequences.
Before leaving, she turned toward me.
“You will regret humiliating me.”
Daniel stepped forward.
I stopped him with one hand.
“No.”
I wanted my mother looking at me.
“This is the last threat you make inside my house.”
Her lips trembled.
Not from fear.
From rage.
Then the door closed behind her.
Mark left separately after being told not to destroy or alter any records connected to the investigation.
Tiffany remained because Agent Chen had questions about the flash drive.
It took almost two hours before we were alone.
Daniel and I sat in the kitchen.
The house looked wrong.
Broken glass had been swept from the bathroom.
Blood had been cleaned from the hallway.
The transfer papers remained inside an evidence envelope.
Daniel stared at his hands.
“I spent months worrying about roadside bombs.”
I said nothing.
He continued.
“I kept thinking the dangerous part was being overseas.”
His voice cracked slightly.
“I didn’t know the danger was here.”
I reached across the table.
“You couldn’t have known.”
“I should have.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
I rarely contradicted him so sharply.
“I investigate fraud for a living.”
“I didn’t see everything immediately either.”
“That’s what manipulators depend on.”
“They don’t walk into your life carrying signs.”
“They arrive carrying history.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
Then he looked toward the hallway.
“You’ve been investigating them for three months.”
“Yes.”
“How bad is it?”
I hesitated.
“Worse than they know.”
The next morning, Agent Chen called.
The flash drive had been encrypted.
But not particularly well.
Investigators recovered spreadsheets.
Dozens of them.
The files documented money passing through shell vendors, family accounts, and charitable organizations.
Tiffany had kept records.
Not because she was careful.
Because she was greedy.
Greedy people loved scoreboards.
One spreadsheet contained a column labeled D.
Daniel.
Another labeled R.
Rachel.
Beside my name were dates.
Amounts.
Notes.
My blood turned cold when I read the latest entry.
R signs Friday.
Property transferred Monday.
Loan Tuesday.
Daniel removed afterward.
Daniel stared at the screen.
“What does ‘removed’ mean?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Agent Chen’s voice came through the speaker.
“We don’t know yet.”
I looked at Daniel.
His face had gone completely still.
Then Agent Chen added,
“There’s something else.”
“One document references a life insurance policy.”
May you like
Daniel and I looked at each other.
Suddenly, stealing the house no longer seemed like the worst thing they had planned.
