Chapter 8 - The Road
The SUV hit them again.
Daniel shouted, "Hold on!"
The driver swerved through two lanes as Sophie cried in the back.
Adrian twisted around and grabbed her hand.
"Stay down!"
The SUV accelerated.
Then police sirens rose behind them.
The black vehicle peeled away at the next exit.
Adrian stared after it.
"That wasn't random."
Daniel was already calling Detective Lena Ortiz, an old contact from a corporate fraud case.
At Northbridge Station, Rachel waited under the bright lights of a crowded cafe.
She looked older than Adrian remembered.
Tired.
Afraid.
But when Sophie saw her, she ran.
"Aunt Rachel!"
Rachel dropped to her knees and hugged her.
"You remember me?"
Sophie nodded into her shoulder.
"Mommy said you were brave."
Rachel cried.
Adrian stood a few feet away, ashamed.
"I should've called you."
Rachel looked at him.
"You should've believed Claire."
He accepted it.
"Yes."
They sat in the far corner while Daniel watched the entrance.
Rachel pulled a thick envelope from her coat.
"Claire gave me this two days before she died."
Inside were copies of trust amendments and photographs of Graham meeting Vanessa at a warehouse.
"She was building a case," Rachel said.
"Against both of them?"
"And someone else."
Adrian looked up.
"Who?"
Rachel slid over a photograph.
Adrian's father, Charles Cole.
Dead four years.
Standing beside Graham.
The date was one month before Charles's fatal stroke.
"That's impossible."
Rachel shook her head.
"Claire thought your father discovered the same theft."
Adrian stared at the image.
"Are you saying Vanessa was involved with my father?"
"No. I'm saying Graham's fraud started before Vanessa. She joined later."
"Why?"
"Because Claire fired her."
Adrian blinked.
"From what?"
"The foundation."
Rachel leaned forward.
"Vanessa was Claire's executive assistant for eleven months."
Adrian felt sick.
Vanessa had told him they met twice.
"She knew everything about us."
"Yes."
"Then why did Claire never tell me?"
"She tried. You were traveling constantly. Every conversation became an argument about Graham, the board, the foundation."
Adrian remembered.
Claire saying, You trust people because they knew your father.
Him answering, And you distrust everyone because you're exhausted.
He had thought it was marriage stress.
Rachel's phone vibrated.
She looked down.
Her face drained.
"What?"
She turned the screen toward him.
A photograph had just been texted to her.
It showed Maria standing in the mansion kitchen.
Taken minutes ago.
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Beneath it were four words:
WE STILL HAVE SOMEONE INSIDE.
