Chapter 14 - Martin's Second Job
Martin Keene answered Naomi's call on the second ring.
"You found the van."
It wasn't a question.
"Where is Jules?"
"Safe."
"That word has been abused all night. Give me an address."
"Not on an unsecured line."
Owen began tracing anyway.
Martin sighed.
"Tell Owen to stop. I'm in his old hunting cabin outside Millbrook. He knows it."
They arrived forty minutes later with police two minutes behind them.
Jules opened the door.
Alive.
Angry.
Holding the cream envelope.
Naomi's shoulders loosened for the first time in hours.
"You could have called."
Jules stared at her. "My phone was compromised. Martin said Victor could track it."
"Martin said?"
The CFO stepped out of the kitchen.
"Because Victor could."
Naomi's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know?"
Martin put a second phone on the table.
"Because for the last six months I've been giving Mara internal records."
Dominic stared at him.
"You were helping her?"
"After I realized your mother wasn't stopping Vanessa."
"You processed the settlements."
"Yes."
"You paid Northstar."
"Yes."
"And then you became a whistleblower?"
Martin's face hardened.
"No. I became a coward with a late conscience. There's a difference."
Naomi respected that answer more than redemption speeches.
Jules slid the envelope toward her.
Inside was a copy of Naomi's original incident report.
Not Victor's final version.
The draft.
Route change requested by client at 14:07.
Team lead Naomi Carter objected.
Client overruled.
Victor's handwriting appeared in the margin:
Remove objection language. Exposure issue.
Naomi read it once.
Then again.
Daniel had died thirty-two minutes later.
For three years, she had known what happened.
Now she could prove it.
Dominic looked at her.
"Naomi..."
"Later."
She couldn't feel it yet.
Not safely.
Jules removed another document.
"This is why Vanessa wanted the envelope."
It was not a donor list.
It was a draft board resolution.
At tomorrow afternoon's foundation meeting, Vanessa was scheduled to be named co-chair of the Hale Foundation with direct authority over donor strategy and data systems.
Dominic's face went blank.
"I never approved this."
Martin pointed to the signature line.
Dominic's digital signature was already there.
"That isn't mine."
"I know."
Naomi looked at the metadata printed beneath it.
Authorized from Dominic's home office computer.
2:13 a.m.
Tonight.
Dominic had been in the ballroom at 2:13.
Someone had entered his office while everyone was distracted.
Owen's phone rang.
He listened.
Then looked at Dominic.
"Your housekeeper just found Victor Sloane inside your home office."
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