Chapter 7 - The Man Behind the Papers
Victor disappeared the following morning.
His office was empty. His computer was gone. The drawers had been cleared.
But he had made one mistake.
He believed Larry would protect him to avoid admitting he had been deceived.
The old Larry might have done exactly that.
For two days, Larry sat in his house staring at the altered email. Shame pressed against him harder than anger ever had.
He wanted to blame Victor.
He wanted to blame Bethany for keeping the investigation secret.
He even wanted to blame Charlotte for standing her ground.
But every path led back to the same moment.
He had entered the office believing his feelings were evidence.
He had decided that anger gave him the right to act.
On the third morning, Larry called his attorney.
“I have records,” he said.
“What kind of records?”
“Victor asked me to approve payments. I kept copies of every message.”
The records revealed that Victor had directed money into three false construction companies. He had also arranged the private loan through a lender that secretly paid him a commission.
Most importantly, one recorded voicemail contained Victor’s voice.
“If Bethany refuses to sign, I can duplicate what we need. She’ll never know until the loan closes.”
Larry had ignored the message when he first received it. At the time, he assumed Victor was talking about duplicating financial forms.
Now the meaning was clear.
Larry turned over everything.
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Investigators found Victor at an airport hotel preparing to leave the country.
He was arrested before sunrise.
