Chapter 12
The police went to the warehouse.
I didn’t.
That was the hardest part.
Every instinct screamed at me to get the hard drive myself.
But I stayed in Rebecca’s office while Detective Ellis coordinated the search.
Megan sat beside me.
Mom sat across from us.
Nobody touched the coffee.
At 7:42 p.m., Ellis called.
“The warehouse is empty.”
My stomach dropped.
“No drive?”
“No.”
“The folder?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why send me there?”
“We found a camera.”
Rebecca leaned closer.
“What kind?”
“Small Wi-Fi camera pointed at the entrance.”
Someone wanted to see whether I came alone.
My skin crawled.
“Can you trace it?”
“We’re working on it.”
Megan shook her head.
“They’re playing with her.”
Ellis continued.
“We also found tire tracks and packaging from a new external drive.”
“Meaning?”
“Possibly they copied your original.”
My stomach tightened.
“So they can release the information anytime.”
“Yes.”
I looked at my mother.
“What could they possibly have on you?”
She looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
“Taxes?”
“Normal.”
“Debt?”
“No.”
“Anything Daniel knew?”
She shook her head.
Then slowly stopped.
“What?”
Mom looked embarrassed.
“Your father’s estate.”
My father died when I was twenty-two.
He left a small commercial property outside Atlanta.
Mom sold it years later.
“What about it?”
“Daniel asked questions about the sale.”
“When?”
“Last Christmas.”
“Why?”
“He said he was curious about real estate taxes.”
That sounded exactly like Daniel.
Ask innocent questions.
Remember every answer.
Mom continued.
“There was a dispute with your uncle.”
I remembered.
Uncle Robert claimed Dad had verbally promised him part of the property.
Mom had settled to avoid a lawsuit.
“Nothing illegal happened.”
“I know.”
“Then why would they care?”
Rebecca answered.
“Pressure.”
I looked at her.
“If they wanted Carol to support their story about your capacity, they may have collected anything embarrassing or financially complicated enough to frighten her.”
Mom’s face changed.
“They wanted to blackmail me.”
“Possibly.”
She covered her mouth.
“I almost signed that witness line.”
I moved beside her.
“But you didn’t.”
“I signed other things.”
“You didn’t know.”
She shook her head.
“I should have known.”
I understood that sentence because I had been saying it to myself for days.
I took her hand.
“Daniel was my husband. I lived with him. I slept beside him. I trusted him with passwords. If I couldn’t see this, you don’t get to punish yourself for not seeing it either.”
Mom started crying.
“So you forgive me?”
The question hurt.
“I’m not there yet.”
She nodded.
I squeezed her hand.
“But I want to get there.”
That was enough for now.
The next morning, Hartwell Interiors received an email from Beaumont Hospitality.
Their general counsel wanted a meeting.
I expected accusations.
Instead, Marcus and I walked into their Atlanta office and found six executives waiting with their attorney.
Mr. Beaumont himself joined by video.
He looked furious.
“Sarah, we’ve reviewed new information.”
I kept my hands folded.
“I appreciate the meeting.”
Their attorney spoke.
“Our forensic team examined the email that triggered termination.”
My heart pounded.
“It did not originate from Sarah’s usual device.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“Can you identify the device?”
“Not definitively. But the login came through a VPN and used a recovery token issued after a password reset.”
“When was the reset?”
“Three weeks ago.”
The night Daniel, Diane, and Lauren entered my office.
I looked at their attorney.
“Do you believe I sent your information?”
“We no longer believe the evidence supports that conclusion.”
I exhaled slowly.
“Will you reinstate the contract?”
Silence.
Mr. Beaumont answered.
“Not yet.”
My hope collapsed.
“We need confidence your systems are secure.”
“That’s fair.”
“And we need complete disclosure of what information may have been copied.”
Marcus nodded.
“We’re conducting a forensic audit.”
Then Mr. Beaumont said something unexpected.
“I’ve known you seven years, Sarah.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve made mistakes.”
I almost smiled.
“Thank you.”
“But betraying a client isn’t one of them.”
My throat tightened.
“We’ll give you thirty days to prove control of the breach.”
Not a restored contract.
But a chance.
Outside, Marcus hugged me.
He had never hugged me before.
“We can save this.”
“For the first time, I think we can.”
Then my phone rang.
Detective Ellis.
They had traced the warehouse camera.
It connected briefly through a mobile hotspot registered to Lauren’s law firm.
“Can you arrest her?”
“Not based on that alone.”
“What about Nina’s statement?”
“We’re building the case.”
I hated how slow justice felt.
Then Ellis continued.
“But we executed a search warrant this morning.”
My pulse quickened.
“Where?”
“Lauren’s office.”
I stood still on the sidewalk.
“Did you find the hard drive?”
“No.”
My hope dropped.
“But we found something else.”
“What?”
“A locked file cabinet containing copies of documents related to you, Daniel, Diane, Carol, MRL, and Briarwood.”
“That sounds good.”
“It is.”
He paused.
“Sarah, your sister’s name is in there too.”
I turned toward Megan, who had come to the meeting with us.
“What?”
“Documents related to Megan Collins and her husband.”
Megan’s face drained.
“Why would they have anything about me?”
Ellis continued.
“We don’t know yet.”
May you like
Then he said the sentence that changed the entire shape of the investigation.
“You weren’t the only family member they were preparing to use.”
