Chapter 13 - the man with two names)
Laura stared through the glass.
"You're saying that wasn't Victor."
Vanessa smiled.
"I never said Victor was one man."
Laura's grip tightened on the phone.
"What does that mean?"
"Victor is a name."
"For who?"
"For whoever handles cleanup."
Laura felt a chill.
"How many?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
Vanessa explained that the network used shared identities.
Names moved between operatives.
Phones.
Accounts.
Even signatures.
Victor was not a person.
Victor was a function.
Laura thought of Miles describing the man he saw in court.
Brown hair.
Gray suit.
Nothing distinctive.
Deliberately nothing distinctive.
"Who put the drive in Emily's toy box?"
Vanessa shook her head.
"I don't know."
"You just said Victor."
"One of them."
"Why?"
"To pressure Daniel."
"By exposing themselves?"
Vanessa leaned back.
"The video you saw is seventeen months old. That man is already gone."
"Dead?"
"Maybe."
"Where?"
"Ask Miles."
Laura's expression changed.
Vanessa noticed.
"Oh, he didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"Why he really left Daniel's firm."
Laura stayed silent.
Vanessa smiled.
"He wasn't fired for discovering fraud."
"He resigned."
"He resigned because Eric accused him of being part of it."
Laura stood.
Vanessa lifted one hand.
"Sit down."
Laura remained standing.
"You're trying to turn me against him."
"Of course I am."
The honesty stopped her.
Vanessa continued.
"But that doesn't make it false."
Laura slowly sat.
"What did Eric accuse Miles of?"
"Moving money through West Vale before I ever touched the accounts."
Laura remembered Miles's financial documents.
He had always controlled what she saw.
"What proof?"
"Ask him about Rebecca Hale."
The name again.
Rebecca.
Eric had shouted it during the confrontation.
"Who is Rebecca?"
Vanessa's face changed.
For the first time, the arrogance disappeared.
"Someone Miles failed."
The call ended.
Laura immediately contacted Owen.
He searched.
Rebecca Hale had been a seventy two year old widow and client of Daniel's firm.
She died eighteen months earlier.
Her obituary described a generous retired school principal.
Her estate had been tied up in litigation after money disappeared from an investment account.
The advisor assigned to investigate internal compliance concerns was Miles Harrow.
Laura confronted him in Sarah's office.
"Who was Rebecca Hale?"
Miles went still.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"Vanessa."
"Of course."
"Answer me."
Miles sat.
"Rebecca was a client."
"Money disappeared."
"Yes."
"You investigated."
"Yes."
"Did you steal from her?"
"No."
"Did you move her money through West Vale?"
"No."
"Then why did Eric accuse you?"
Miles looked toward the window.
"Because I made a mistake."
"What mistake?"
He explained.
When Rebecca first complained about unauthorized withdrawals, Miles suspected an employee inside the firm.
He quietly investigated rather than immediately reporting externally.
He wanted proof.
During the delay, more money vanished.
Rebecca suffered a stroke before the case was resolved.
She died weeks later.
Miles had never forgiven himself.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it wasn't relevant to Emily."
"It is relevant if Vanessa can use it against your credibility."
Miles nodded.
"You're right."
"Anything else?"
He hesitated.
Laura felt anger rise.
"Anything else?"
Miles opened his black folder.
He removed a photograph.
Rebecca Hale stood beside a younger woman.
Laura recognized the woman.
Not Vanessa.
Someone else.
"Who is she?"
"Rebecca's daughter."
"Name?"
Miles answered.
"Claire Hale."
Laura stared at the photograph.
Claire looked familiar.
She could not place why.
Then Sarah leaned over.
"Oh my God."
"What?"
Sarah pointed.
"That's Judge Halston's courtroom clerk."
Laura's blood went cold.
The clerk who received the anonymous video.
The clerk who had access to the judge's chambers.
The clerk who had been present when Emily testified.
They checked immediately.
The clerk's full name was Claire Hale Mercer.
Rebecca Hale was her mother.
That explained motive to help expose Vanessa.
But not how she obtained the video.
Owen requested courthouse security footage from the morning of the hearing.
At five fifty eight, Claire arrived.
At six seventeen, a man met her outside an employee entrance.
Gray coat.
Black folder.
Miles.
Laura stared at him.
"You gave her the video."
Miles nodded.
"Yes."
"You told us you sent it anonymously."
"I did. Through Claire."
"Why lie?"
"To protect her."
Laura stood.
"No more secrets."
"There are no more."
"That sentence means nothing from anyone anymore."
Miles looked ashamed.
Then Sarah's phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
"What?"
She listened.
"Are you sure?"
Laura stepped closer.
Sarah ended the call.
"That was Owen."
"What happened?"
"Claire didn't come to work today."
Laura stared.
"Where is she?"
"They don't know."
Miles stood too quickly.
The black folder fell from his lap.
Several pages spilled across the floor.
One photograph landed face up.
Laura looked down.
May you like
It showed Claire Hale standing outside Meadow Lane.
The timestamp was from two months before Emily was ever taken there.
