Chapter 5 - Phase Two
Naomi arrived at Rosewood Manor with two forensic accountants and a federal investigator named Elena Ruiz.
Ruiz wore no visible badge.
She did not raise her voice.
She simply entered the library, looked at the burner phone, and asked everyone to place their devices on the table.
Charles refused.
Ruiz produced a court order.
His smile disappeared.
The burner phone contained almost no stored data.
Most messages had been automatically deleted.
The final message had come from an encrypted number.
However, one unsent draft remained.
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE FIRST.
MEDICAL EVENT SECOND.
TRANSFER BEFORE BOARD OPENS.
Alex read the words twice.
“What medical event?”
Naomi opened the folder she had carried into the manor.
“The revised Ward trust documents include an incapacity clause.”
“If you became medically unable to manage your affairs after marriage, your spouse would receive temporary co-trustee authority.”
Alex looked at Genevieve.
“You asked me to add that clause.”
She stared at him.
“My lawyer said it was standard.”
“Your lawyer is Marcus’s former partner.”
Charles struck the table with his palm.
“This is speculation.”
Ruiz faced him.
“Then you should welcome an investigation.”
Alex remembered a dinner three weeks earlier.
Genevieve had insisted he try a rare herbal supplement recommended by her private physician.
He had taken one capsule and become violently ill.
She had laughed and blamed his sensitive stomach.
At the time, he believed her.
Now he remembered Marcus arriving at the penthouse unexpectedly that night with documents requiring an urgent signature.
Alex had refused because his vision was blurred.
“What did you plan to give me after the ceremony?” he asked.
Genevieve’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Charles moved between them.
“My daughter planned nothing.”
Ruiz’s phone vibrated.
She listened to a brief report.
Then she looked at Alex.
“Marcus Vane never reached the airport.”
“His car was found near the river.”
“The driver was unconscious.”
“Marcus took another vehicle.”
“Do you know where he would go?”
Alex thought of offices, houses, and private clubs.
Then he remembered the company’s original records facility in Yonkers.
It held archived servers from Ward Global’s first decade.
Marcus had argued against destroying them.
“He has access to our old data center.”
Ruiz immediately dispatched agents.
Before they left, Lucia appeared in the library doorway.
She was holding Benny, Sofi’s worn rabbit.
One of its seams had split.
Something small and metallic protruded from the stuffing.
Lucia pulled it free.
It was a memory card.
“My husband gave Sofi this rabbit two days before he died,” she said.
“He told me never to throw it away.”
Alex looked at the card.
“What was your husband’s name?”
“Javier Herrera.”
Julian stopped moving.
Alex knew that name.
Javier Herrera had been the safety engineer who died after a platform collapse at a Ward construction site.
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The internal report had called it an accident.
Marcus Vane had signed the report.
