Chapter 5 - The Missing Accountant
Naomi Brooks had not vanished by choice.
Priya found her through a parking receipt charged to a company card in Newark. The receipt led to a small motel near the airport. Claire and Priya arrived just before dawn.
Naomi opened the door with a suitcase in her hand.
“You cannot be here,” she said.
“Daniel threatened you,” Claire replied.
Naomi looked down the empty hallway before letting them inside.
Her investigation had uncovered more than stolen consulting fees. Daniel, Evelyn, and Martin had been moving money from Hartwell Technologies into a holding company called Northstar Medical Systems. After Claire was declared incapacitated, Northstar planned to purchase Hartwell’s most valuable patents at a fraction of their worth.
The buyer was controlled by Daniel.
“He does not just want your position,” Naomi said. “He wants to strip the company, sell the technology, and leave the employees with debt.”
“Why did you run?” Priya asked.
Naomi opened her laptop and showed them a photograph taken outside her apartment. It pictured her twelve-year-old niece leaving school.
No message was attached.
None was needed.
Claire felt anger rise through the fear.
“Do you still have the evidence?”
“Most of it.”
Naomi had stored encrypted copies in a cloud archive, but the key required a hardware device hidden in her office safe. Daniel’s people had emptied the office before she could retrieve it.
The irony was almost unbearable. The evidence against him could be locked inside the building he was trying to steal.
Priya arranged a plan. During the next board meeting, Claire would publicly challenge the medical reports. While security and executives focused on the confrontation, Priya would enter the records room using an old maintenance authorization.
Naomi refused to return to Manhattan.
Claire did not blame her.
Before leaving, Claire gave Naomi the address of a safe apartment and promised protection for her niece.
“You cannot promise that,” Naomi said.
“I can fund it, document it, and make sure the police know everything.”
Back in Manhattan, Claire found Lena waiting outside Hartwell headquarters.
“My phone was stolen,” Lena said. “Someone searched my office too.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. But the hospital has placed me on administrative leave for allegedly accessing records without cause.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Daniel was isolating every witness.
Lena handed her a small device no larger than a shirt button.
“It records continuously for six hours.”
May you like
Claire stared at it before putting the recorder in her pocket.
For the first time, she began planning not merely to defend herself, but to make Daniel believe he had already won.
