Chapter 2 - The Name on the Tablet.
Daniel's hand tightened around the tablet until his knuckles turned pale.
The man in the surveillance frame had his height, his haircut, his gray suit, and even the narrow silver tie clip he wore during executive meetings.
Yet Daniel had been with Adrian on the opposite side of the city at 1:43 that morning.
Evan knew it because he had driven them both back to Vale Tower.
Adrian knew it because Daniel had spent the entire ride arguing about a failed acquisition.
Mara slept through the silence that followed.
Daniel finally whispered, "That isn't me."
Adrian's gaze remained fixed on the image.
"I know where you were."
The answer should have relaxed Daniel, but it did not.
If the photograph was false, someone had spent considerable time making it believable.
Evan enlarged the image and pointed to the man's left hand.
Daniel wore a plain ring on his right hand, but the figure in the photograph wore one on the left.
It was a small mistake, almost too small to notice.
"Someone wanted us to stop looking at Mara and start looking at each other," Evan said.
At the sound of her name, Mara stirred.
Her eyes opened slowly, unfocused at first, then suddenly alert when she realized where she was.
She sat upright too quickly and nearly lost her balance.
Adrian caught her elbow.
"Easy."
Mara looked at his hand, then at the two men across from her, and panic flashed across her face.
"How long was I asleep?"
"Twenty-seven minutes," Adrian said.
"Too long."
She tried to stand.
Adrian did not force her back, but his expression made it clear that he would not allow her to collapse again.
"Start at the beginning."
Mara looked at Daniel's tablet and went still when she saw the surveillance frame.
"They already changed it."
Evan frowned.
"Changed what?"
"The camera record."
Mara reached into the pocket of her shirt and pulled out a tiny brass key wrapped in clear tape.
"The original feed shows Julian Mercer behind me, not Daniel."
Daniel stared at her.
"You expect us to believe the company's chief financial officer altered secure footage?"
Mara gave him a tired look.
"I expect you to believe whoever had enough access to erase four minutes also had enough access to replace one frame."
Adrian said nothing.
Mara turned toward him.
"Mr. Vale, I work in archived compliance, three floors below people who remember my name."
Her voice shook once, but she steadied it.
"Six weeks ago, I found payments routed through dead subsidiaries that belonged to your father."
Adrian's face changed at the mention of Marcus Vale.
"Those companies were closed eight years ago."
"On paper."
Mara pointed to the silver flash drive on the table.
"Someone reopened them, moved money through them, and made every transfer look like it came from your authorization."
Evan looked toward Adrian.
The implications were obvious.
If the records became public in their current form, Adrian would appear to have built his company on hidden transfers tied to his father's old network.
Mara continued before anyone could interrupt.
"I copied what I could, but Julian caught me in the archive room."
Daniel's voice lowered.
"Why didn't he stop you?"
Mara looked at the brass key in her palm.
"Because he thought I took the wrong thing."
She held the key out to Adrian.
"The files on that flash drive are not the evidence."
Adrian took the key.
"Then what is?"
Mara met his eyes.
"Something your father hid before he died."
A low tone sounded from Daniel's tablet.
The building's elevator system had just locked every floor above forty.
Then a message appeared across the screen from an unknown sender.
BRING MARA ELLIS TO THE LOBBY ALONE.
May you like
Underneath it was a second line.
OR THE TRUTH ABOUT NOAH VALE DISAPPEARS FOREVER.
