Chapter 4 - The Investigator Who Did Not Believe in Accidents
Naomi Reyes contacted Olivia on a rainy Tuesday morning.
Olivia had just returned from her third unsuccessful job interview. Each meeting ended the same way. The prospective employer praised her experience, asked about the investigation at Ward Meridian, and promised to contact her.
Nobody contacted her.
Connor had not officially accused her of a crime, but rumors traveled faster than legal filings.
Naomi was waiting in the lobby of Olivia’s apartment building.
She wore a charcoal suit and held no umbrella.
“Ms. Bennett?”
“Who’s asking?”
Naomi displayed her identification.
“State Financial Crimes Division.”
Olivia nearly laughed.
“Connor sent you?”
“No.”
“Brenda?”
“No.”
“Then you’re late. They’ve spent months building a case against me.”
“We are not investigating you.”
Naomi paused.
“Not primarily.”
Olivia folded her arms.
“That is not comforting.”
“May we speak somewhere private?”
Olivia considered refusing.
Then Naomi said, “I know about Malik Owens.”
They went upstairs.
Naomi did not begin with the missing transfer.
She placed a photograph of Daniel Bennett’s damaged car on the kitchen table.
Olivia stopped breathing.
“Why do you have that?”
“Your father contacted our division nine days before his death.”
“No.”
“He requested a confidential meeting regarding financial irregularities at Ward Meridian.”
Olivia gripped the edge of the chair.
“He would have told me.”
“Perhaps he planned to.”
“What did he give you?”
“Nothing. He missed the meeting.”
“Because he died.”
“Yes.”
Olivia stared at the photograph.
The front of Daniel’s car had been crushed against a concrete drainage wall. She had seen the vehicle only once, from a distance, before the insurance company removed it.
Naomi placed another document beside it.
A mechanical inspection report.
“The police report said he fell asleep,” Olivia said.
“The police report was based on the scene investigation. This report was never included in the official file.”
“Why?”
“It was commissioned privately by the insurance carrier.”
Olivia scanned the page.
Brake pressure failure.
Hydraulic line compromised.
Evidence of deliberate incision could not be excluded.
Her vision blurred.
“Who had access to this?”
“The insurance investigator, his supervisor, and the law firm representing the vehicle manufacturer.”
“What law firm?”
Naomi met her gaze.
“Holloway Strategic Counsel.”
Brenda’s former firm.
Olivia sat down slowly.
“That doesn’t prove she knew.”
“No.”
“It doesn’t prove Connor knew.”
“No.”
“It could be a coincidence.”
“Yes.”
Naomi’s refusal to force a conclusion made the information more frightening.
“What happened to the insurance investigator?” Olivia asked.
“He retired six weeks after filing the report.”
“Can we speak to him?”
“He died last year.”
Olivia looked again at her father’s car.
“Why are you showing me this now?”
“Because someone submitted evidence connecting Ward Meridian’s shell companies to the transfer you questioned.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
“You received an anonymous complaint?”
“A package.”
“What was in it?”
“Transaction summaries, internal authorization codes, and a list of properties purchased through companies associated with Connor Ward.”
“Anyone could fabricate that.”
“They included information that was not public.”
Naomi removed a copy of an accounting ledger.
Near the bottom, Olivia saw a familiar project code.
Strategic Land Assessment.
The missing $1.24 million had been transferred into a company called Northstar Civic Holdings.
Northstar owned three properties.
One was a luxury condominium used by Connor.
One was an estate registered to Brenda’s sister.
The third was an abandoned manufacturing site outside Bellweather County.
Olivia pointed to the address.
“What is this?”
“We hoped you could tell us.”
“I’ve never seen it.”
“Your father had.”
Naomi produced an old photograph.
Daniel stood outside the abandoned building beside Malik Owens.
The date printed on the image was four days before Daniel died.
Olivia’s voice came out as a whisper.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was in the package.”
She picked up the photograph.
On the back, someone had written six words.
Daniel found the archive beneath the floor.
Olivia looked at Naomi.
“What archive?”
“We don’t know.”
“And Malik?”
“We believe he is alive.”
“Where?”
“We don’t know that either.”
Rain struck the kitchen window harder.
Naomi closed the folder.
“I need to ask you something difficult.”
Olivia waited.
“Are you willing to help us prove Connor Ward and Brenda Holloway are stealing investor funds?”
Olivia looked at her father’s photograph.
Until that moment, she had wanted to restore her reputation.
May you like
Now she wanted something else.
“What do you need?”
