Chapter 6
For the first time since coming home early, doubt entered my mind.
Not doubt about Vanessa.
I had seen the recording.
Nothing could erase what she had done.
But doubt about Maria.
Why had she started recording?
Had someone encouraged her?
Had she been watching Vanessa because she already suspected something bigger?
Detective Brooks told me not to confront her.
Naturally, I did exactly the opposite.
I returned to Rebecca’s house around noon.
Noah was asleep against my sister’s chest.
Maria stood when she saw me.
“Mr. Carter.”
“Who told you to record Vanessa?”
Her face changed.
Just slightly.
But I saw it.
Rebecca looked between us.
“What is this?”
“Vanessa called me.”
Maria’s eyes widened.
“She told me to ask who put you up to recording her.”
“No one.”
“Maria.”
“No one told me.”
“Then why did your face change?”
She looked away.
I stepped closer.
“I trusted you with my son last night. I defended you. If there is something I need to know, tell me now.”
Maria began twisting the hem of her blouse.
“My cousin told me.”
“Your cousin?”
“Yes.”
“Who is your cousin?”
“His name is Luis.”
“What did Luis tell you?”
She took a deep breath.
“He works for a security company.”
My chest tightened.
“What company?”
“Sterling Residential Systems.”
I knew the name.
They had upgraded our alarm system a year earlier.
“Did he install the cameras?”
“No.”
“Did he know about them?”
Maria hesitated.
“Maria.”
“He suspected.”
Rebecca stood.
“How?”
“Luis came to service your alarm panel two months ago.”
I remembered the appointment.
Vanessa had handled it.
Maria continued.
“He noticed an extra wireless network inside the house.”
David, who had followed me from the police station, stepped closer.
“What kind?”
“I do not understand the details. He said there were devices transmitting video.”
“Did he tell Vanessa?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because she was watching him.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He said Mrs. Carter stayed beside him the entire time. She would not let him inspect the office.”
“So he told you.”
“Yes.”
“And told you to record her?”
Maria nodded.
“He said if I saw something bad, I needed proof.”
I rubbed both hands over my face.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the cameras?”
“I wanted to.”
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
She flinched.
I immediately regretted my tone.
“Sorry.”
Maria shook her head.
“No. You have the right to be angry.”
“No. I have the right to know the truth.”
She nodded.
“Luis said we needed to be careful because he recognized one of the device signatures.”
David frowned.
“From where?”
Maria looked uncertain.
“A private investigation company.”
Brooks had told me not to confront her.
But he hadn’t told me not to call him.
I put him on speaker.
Within thirty minutes, Luis Alvarez was sitting at Rebecca’s dining table with Detective Brooks and another investigator.
Luis was thirty-one, nervous, and clearly uncomfortable being there.
Brooks started immediately.
“Tell me about the devices.”
Luis explained that while servicing our home network, he noticed network traffic that did not match the equipment his company had installed.
“Could it have been smart-home equipment?” David asked.
“At first I thought so.”
“What changed your mind?”
Luis looked at me.
“There was an encrypted video stream leaving the property.”
My stomach tightened.
“Going where?”
“I couldn’t see the final destination.”
“But you recognized the hardware?”
“I saw a MAC vendor code.”
Brooks leaned forward.
“Whose?”
Luis swallowed.
“Sentinel Strategic.”
David sat back.
I knew that name too.
Sentinel Strategic was a corporate intelligence firm.
They worked for companies during hostile takeovers.
Security audits.
Executive investigations.
Sometimes things that lived in legal gray areas.
“Why would Sentinel be inside my house?” I asked.
Luis shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
David’s face had gone grim.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
He opened his laptop.
“Halcyon Medical has three major competitors trying to stop our merger.”
“One of them use Sentinel?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Brooks asked, “Could Mrs. Carter have been paid to gather information?”
David looked at me.
I didn’t want to answer.
Because suddenly little things made sense.
Vanessa asking when negotiations would close.
Vanessa wanting to know which board members were resisting.
Vanessa laughing when I told her she didn’t need to understand the details.
Maybe she understood far more than I thought.
Luis continued.
“There is something else.”
Of course there was.
“What?”
“When I came to the house, Mrs. Carter was not alone.”
Maria looked surprised.
“You didn’t tell me that.”
“A man was there.”
My pulse jumped.
“Gray hair?”
Luis nodded.
“Maybe late fifties. Tall. Expensive suit.”
The same man Maria saw.
“Did you know him?”
“No.”
“Did you hear a name?”
Luis thought.
“She called him Richard.”
David and I looked at each other.
“Richard who?” Brooks asked.
I already knew.
“Richard Hale.”
My voice sounded distant.
Brooks waited.
“Who is that?”
I stood.
“Chief financial officer of Halcyon Medical.”
David cursed.
The room exploded with questions.
Richard Hale had direct access to Halcyon’s financial structure.
He also strongly supported the merger.
At least publicly.
If he and Vanessa were working together, then the entire deal could be compromised.
Brooks asked Luis to describe the man again.
It matched Richard.
Then David searched for a recent corporate photograph.
He turned the screen toward Luis.
“This him?”
Luis stared for two seconds.
“Yes.”
Maria gasped.
My stomach dropped.
Richard Hale had been in my home.
With my wife.
Using hidden surveillance to steal confidential information.
But why?
Brooks’ phone buzzed.
He checked it.
“We located Vanessa’s car.”
“Where?”
“Parking garage near Midtown.”
“Is she there?”
“No.”
“Cameras?”
“Checking.”
Another detective called him moments later.
Brooks listened.
His expression became sharper.
“When?”
Pause.
“Send it to me.”
He hung up.
“What now?” I asked.
“Your wife withdrew cash this morning.”
“How much?”
“Thirty thousand.”
David whistled softly.
“And she purchased a prepaid phone.”
Brooks’ phone buzzed again.
He opened a security image.
Then turned it toward me.
Vanessa was standing at a convenience store counter.
Beside her was a man in a baseball cap.
His face was partly hidden.
But I recognized him.
Not Richard Hale.
Someone else.
Someone I had known for fifteen years.
My business partner.
Evan Cole.
I stared at the image.
“That’s impossible.”
David leaned closer.
His face drained of color.
“Michael…”
Brooks looked between us.
“Who is he?”
I could barely say the words.
“Evan Cole.”
“Relationship?”
“He owns twenty percent of my company.”
Brooks nodded slowly.
“And if your merger closes?”
“He becomes very rich.”
“How rich?”
David answered.
“Roughly eighty million dollars.”
The room fell silent.
Then my phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number.
There was a photograph attached.
Noah.
Sleeping in Rebecca’s house.
Taken through the window.
My blood froze.
May you like
Under the photograph were six words.
STOP TALKING TO POLICE OR ELSE.
