Chapter 5 - THE FRAME
Elena laughed once in disbelief.
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” Her voice cracked. “Because five minutes ago your fiancée accused me of stealing millions, and now your security system says I erased evidence.”
Damian stepped inside. “I said I know.”
Mia looked between them, frightened.
Elena lowered her voice. “Then prove it.”
He nodded. “We will.”
Marcus arrived with a laptop and a face that said the situation had gotten worse.
“The deletion came from terminal HK-2,” he explained. “Housekeeping office. Elena’s badge logged in at 9:12 this morning.”
“I was with Mia at the cottage at nine-twelve.”
“Anyone see you?”
Elena went silent.
Damian’s jaw clenched. “Careful, Marcus.”
“I’m not accusing her. I’m building the timeline.”
Mia raised her hand like she was in preschool. “I saw Mama.”
Marcus looked at her.
“At nine-twelve?”
Mia frowned. “I don’t know that number.”
Despite the pressure, Marcus almost smiled. “Fair.”
Elena thought fast. “The daycare camera. I took Mia there at nine twenty. It will show us leaving the cottage.”
Marcus typed.
Then stopped.
“What?” Damian asked.
“The daycare camera went offline at eight fifty-seven.”
Elena felt cold all over.
Someone had planned this.
Marcus found two more entries made with Elena’s badge while she had been off property.
“My badge was copied,” Elena said.
“Looks that way,” Marcus replied.
Damian’s phone buzzed again. His attorney this time.
He listened, then walked to the window.
“No, don’t file anything yet. Freeze access first.”
Elena watched him.
“What now?”
Damian turned around.
“Northstar Consulting is registered to a man named Owen Hale.”
Vanessa’s maiden name was Hale.
“Her brother?” Elena asked.
“She told me she was an only child.”
Marcus rotated the laptop. A corporate filing showed Owen Hale, age thirty-four, managing member.
Damian’s eyes hardened. “Find him.”
Marcus typed the name into a background database.
A red flag appeared.
“Damian.”
“What?”
“Owen Hale isn’t just her brother.” Marcus swallowed. “He was convicted of wire fraud eight years ago. Served twenty-two months.”
Damian stared at the screen.
Elena whispered, “So she lied about her family.”
Marcus shook his head slowly.
“That’s not the worst part.”
He opened another record.
May you like
Owen Hale had entered the United States three days earlier.
And the address on his hotel registration was less than ten miles from the Cross estate.
