Chapter 4 - James Finds the Numbers
James Cole had spent fifteen years investigating financial crimes.
Jessica knew this when she married him.
She also knew he paid attention to details.
In October, James noticed that Jessica had begun receiving money through an unfamiliar consulting company called North Star Advisory.
She claimed it was income from freelance work.
James searched the company records.
North Star Advisory had been created eighteen months earlier by a lawyer connected to Mark. Its only client was Halstead Heritage Hotels.
More than four million dollars had passed through its accounts.
James said nothing to Jessica.
Instead, he began collecting evidence.
He discovered inflated renovation invoices, fake hospitality suppliers, and payments authorized using Anna’s digital signature. Money traveled from Halstead accounts into North Star Advisory, then into accounts controlled by Mark and Jessica.
The affair was obvious from hotel bookings and private messages stored in a shared cloud account.
But the theft was worse.
Mark planned to sell several historic Halstead properties to a development company immediately after Christmas. The buyer intended to demolish the hotels and replace them with luxury apartment towers.
Anna’s signature appeared on the sale authorization.
It was forged.
The contract would transfer nearly thirty million dollars into an overseas account before Anna discovered what had happened.
James confronted Jessica privately.
She cried, admitted the affair, and begged him to stay silent.
Then Mark offered him two hundred thousand dollars to sign a confidentiality agreement and leave the country until the sale was completed.
James accepted the meeting.
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He did not accept the bribe.
He photographed every bill, recorded the conversation, and brought the money to the mansion.
