Chapter 7 - The dead guard was Thomas Reed.Seven years with DeLuca security.
Never arrested.
Never disciplined.
Never suspected.
Now he was dead in a vehicle that should never have been there.
Rachel examined the scene.
“Single gunshot.”
Mason looked around.
“No shell casing.”
“Professional.”
Lorenzo stared at the windshield.
HE KNOWS.
“Who?”
Rachel shook her head.
“That is what we need to find out.”
The encrypted drive was still being decoded.
The farmhouse was sealed.
Bruno stayed near Lorenzo.
The dog refused to move away.
As dawn approached, Lorenzo finally received the forensic report.
The blood found in the underground room belonged to Isabella.
Rachel read the document twice.
“She was injured there.”
“Recently?”
“Within weeks.”
Lorenzo's face hardened.
“She survived the farmhouse.”
“Yes.”
“Then escaped.”
“Likely.”
“Where?”
No one knew.
Then Mason arrived with a phone.
“We recovered this from Thomas Reed.”
The device contained only one unsent message.
It was addressed to Lorenzo.
I FOUND THE WOMAN.
Lorenzo's pulse raced.
“When was it written?”
“Two days ago.”
“Why didn't he send it?”
“Because someone stopped him.”
Rachel examined the phone.
The message had an attachment.
A photograph.
A road sign.
KINGSTON EAST.
Then another photo.
A church.
Saint Matthew's.
Lorenzo looked at Rachel.
“Find it.”
They drove there.
The church was abandoned.
Broken windows.
Locked doors.
But Bruno reacted immediately.
The dog ran toward a side entrance.
Mason forced it open.
Inside, they found recent footprints.
A blanket.
A cup.
A child's drawing.
A little house.
A woman.
A black dog.
And a tall man standing apart from them.
Emma had drawn him in black.
Rachel crouched.
“That's not a child drawing a random person.”
Lorenzo stared.
“Who is he?”
Emma had written one word beneath the picture.
FRIEND.
But the handwriting was unsteady.
Then they found another drawing.
This one showed Isabella.
Her mouth had been crossed out.
And beside her was an enormous black circle.
Rachel frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Lorenzo looked closer.
“Maybe a camera.”
“Why?”
“Isabella always noticed cameras.”
A noise came from upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Mason drew his weapon.
“Police.”
Nothing.
Then footsteps.
One.
Two.
Three.
A door slammed.
Mason ran.
Lorenzo followed.
They found a narrow room.
Empty.
A window stood open.
On the sill was a black strand of hair.
And beneath it, a silver wedding ring.
Lorenzo picked it up.
His hands shook.
The ring was engraved inside.
Always.
Isabella had removed it once during an argument and refused to wear it for a week.
Then he noticed something else.
Blood on the window frame.
Fresh.
Rachel touched it.
“Could be hers.”
Mason called from the hallway.
“Sir!”
They hurried back.
A hidden staircase had been discovered behind a wooden panel.
It led to the church basement.
Inside was a table covered with papers.
Port records.
Bank statements.
Photographs.
Names.
The same names from Isabella's laptop.
At the center was a map of the city.
Red lines connected warehouses.
Shipping docks.
Hotels.
Government buildings.
One red line led directly to the DeLuca estate.
Lorenzo stared.
Then another line.
It ended at a private hospital.
Rachel whispered:
“She's been moved repeatedly.”
Lorenzo turned.
“Why?”
“Because whoever is controlling this knows we're closing in.”
He picked up a folder.
Inside was Isabella's handwriting.
She had listed six people.
One had been crossed out.
One was circled.
One was underlined twice.
The circled name was Vincent Moreau.
The underlined name was Sophia Walker.
Lorenzo looked up.
“Why Sophia?”
Rachel opened the last page.
There was one sentence.
Sophia knows what happened to Claire.
Lorenzo froze.
Sophia had been afraid from the beginning.
She had seen Isabella.
She had never told anyone.
And Emma had somehow known where Isabella was.
Maybe Sophia knew more than she had admitted.
They returned to the estate.
Lorenzo found Sophia in the kitchen.
She immediately knew from his expression that the truth had arrived.
“You knew Claire,” he said.
Sophia started crying.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“Tell me.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because they will kill my daughter.”
“You're safe here.”
“No one is safe.”
Lorenzo's voice hardened.
“Who threatened you?”
Sophia stared at him.
Then whispered:
“Isabella.”
Lorenzo froze.
“What?”
“She told me not to trust you.”
He stepped back.
“Why?”
Sophia's eyes filled with tears.
“Because before the crash... Isabella discovered something about you.”
“What?”
Sophia shook her head.
“She said the man she married wasn't the man she thought he was.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
“That's impossible.”
Sophia whispered:
“She had proof.”
Lorenzo's phone suddenly rang.
Rachel.
“Lorenzo, we cracked the encrypted drive.”
“What did you find?”
Rachel hesitated.
“It's not about Vincent.”
“What then?”
“It's about you.”
Lorenzo's blood ran cold.
“How?”
Rachel answered:
“The files suggest Isabella believed someone had been secretly impersonating your orders.”
A pause.
“And there's something worse.”
“What?”
“The first fraudulent transfer happened eight years before Vincent joined the company.”
Lorenzo stared at Sophia.
Eight years.
Before Vincent.
Before the crash.
Before the funeral.
Someone had been stealing from him long before he knew anything was wrong.
Then Rachel said:
“We found the name of the person who authorized it.”
Lorenzo tightened his grip on the phone.
“Who?”
May you like
Rachel whispered:
“Your father.”
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