Chapter 10 - THE EVIDENCE IN RYAN'S HOUSE
Ryan reached his house twenty minutes before the federal agents.
Naomi warned him not to touch anything in the study.
"If someone planted documents, the worst thing you can do is start searching for them yourself."
Ryan hated the instruction.
It felt like being told not to defend his own home while someone accused him from inside it.
Emily entered the study first only because she needed to collect her laptop from a shelf near the door.
She stopped after two steps.
"Ryan."
He looked past her.
One of the lower cabinet doors was slightly open.
Ryan was meticulous about those cabinets.
He never left them open.
Naomi raised a hand.
"Nobody touch it."
The house security chief, Marcus Reed, arrived from the control room.
"When was the last time this room was cleaned?"
Ryan looked at him.
"Yesterday morning."
"Who had access?"
"Housekeeper, me, Emily, and senior security."
Marcus frowned.
"The housekeeper left at noon."
Emily looked toward the open cabinet.
"Margaret was here yesterday afternoon."
Ryan's face tightened.
"And Nathan has had the door code for years."
Naomi nodded.
"Do not assume which one."
At 9:18 p.m., six federal agents arrived with a search warrant.
The lead agent, Dana Ruiz, was professional and calm.
Ryan handed her the keys to the study.
"I am not going to interfere."
Dana looked at him.
"Good."
"But my attorney believes evidence may have been placed in this room without my knowledge."
Naomi handed Dana a written preservation notice describing the suspected trust fraud and the recent storage-unit fire.
Dana read it without reacting.
"We will document what we find."
For the next ninety minutes, Ryan and Emily sat in the living room while agents photographed shelves, opened drawers, and packaged electronics.
Margaret called twice.
Ryan ignored both calls.
Olivia called once.
He ignored her too.
At 10:47, Dana entered the living room carrying a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a blue folder.
Ryan recognized the Whitmore Holdings logo.
"Where was that?"
Dana did not answer immediately.
"Lower cabinet in your study."
Ryan looked at Naomi.
The open cabinet.
Dana removed one photocopied page from the folder and held it where Ryan could see without touching.
It was an authorization form for a two-point-one-million-dollar transfer to North Coast Advisory.
At the bottom was Ryan's signature.
Emily whispered, "That's not his."
Dana looked at her.
"It appears to be an electronic signature."
Ryan shook his head.
"I did not approve that transfer."
"There are seven forms."
"I did not approve any of them."
Dana's expression remained neutral.
"We will examine the records."
Naomi asked, "Were there fingerprints?"
"We have not processed the folder yet."
"Please preserve touch DNA and print evidence."
Dana nodded.
Then another agent entered holding a small black device.
"Found this under the desk."
Marcus Reed stood immediately.
"That is not ours."
Dana looked at him.
"What is it?"
Marcus leaned closer without touching.
"Audio transmitter."
Ryan's skin went cold.
"Someone bugged my study."
The agent placed the device in an evidence bag.
Dana asked Marcus for a list of all surveillance equipment registered to the property.
Marcus provided it from his tablet.
The device was not on the list.
Emily looked at Ryan.
"Someone was listening to us."
Ryan thought about every private conversation held in that room.
His meetings with Nathan.
His arguments with Margaret.
His calls with Naomi.
His discussion with Emily after finding the locket.
"How long could that thing transmit?"
Marcus studied the model number.
"Depends on the power source."
The agent pointed to a thin cable running under the desk.
"It was wired into the desk outlet."
Marcus's face darkened.
"Then indefinitely."
Dana looked at Ryan.
"Who knew the layout of this room?"
Ryan gave a humorless laugh.
"Half my family."
At midnight, the agents left with three computers, the transfer folder, the audio device, and several storage drives.
Dana gave Naomi a receipt for every item.
Before leaving, she spoke quietly to Ryan.
"Do not destroy records."
"I won't."
"Do not contact potential witnesses to coordinate stories."
"I won't."
"And if you remember anything about those authorization forms, call your attorney first."
Ryan nodded.
After the gate closed, Emily stood in the study doorway.
The room looked violated.
Drawers were open.
Shelves were half empty.
Evidence stickers marked several surfaces.
Ryan sat behind the desk.
"She put those papers here."
Naomi leaned against the wall.
"We do not know that yet."
"Who else benefits?"
"Peter."
"Nathan."
"Possibly Olivia."
Ryan looked at her sharply.
Naomi did not soften it.
"You cannot keep excluding your sister because you love her."
Emily sat beside Ryan.
"Naomi is right."
Ryan looked exhausted.
"Olivia has spent her whole life terrified of Mom."
"Fear makes people do things too," Emily said.
Ryan thought of Nathan.
That was exactly what Nathan had said.
Fear became obedience.
Obedience became complicity.
Complicity became a trap.
Marcus returned carrying a printout.
"I found the transmitter model."
Ryan looked up.
"Can it be traced?"
"Maybe."
Marcus placed the page on the desk.
The transmitter was sold only through commercial security vendors.
One distributor in Los Angeles had supplied Whitmore Holdings with conference-room equipment.
"Can we get purchase records?" Naomi asked.
Marcus nodded.
"I already checked our procurement system."
He turned the page.
A matching device had been purchased eleven months earlier.
The buyer account was Whitmore Holdings executive security.
Ryan stared at the authorization code.
"That is Nathan's department code."
Marcus nodded.
Emily frowned.
"Nathan ordered the bug?"
"Not necessarily."
Marcus pointed to the shipping address.
The device had not been shipped to the office.
It had been delivered to a private mail suite in Beverly Hills.
Naomi searched the address.
The suite was rented to Larkspur Management.
Emily felt anger rise.
"The same company that used my mother's trust money."
"Yes."
Ryan called Nathan again.
No answer.
Naomi checked the voluntary witness agreement Nathan had signed that afternoon.
He had agreed to meet investigators at ten the next morning.
Ryan looked at Marcus.
"Find him."
Marcus called Nathan's security detail.
No response.
He called Nathan's driver.
The driver said Nathan dismissed him at 5:00 p.m.
He called the concierge at Nathan's apartment building.
Nathan had not returned home.
Ryan stood.
"He ran."
Emily shook her head.
"Or someone made him disappear."
Naomi looked at both of them.
"Nobody is going to his apartment tonight."
Ryan was about to argue when the doorbell camera alerted Marcus.
A vehicle had stopped outside the outer gate.
It was Olivia's car.
Ryan walked to the entrance.
Olivia stepped out before the gate fully opened.
She looked terrified.
"Ryan, I need to talk to you."
He folded his arms.
"About Mom?"
Olivia looked behind her as if expecting another car.
"About Nathan."
Ryan's anger disappeared.
"What happened?"
Olivia's eyes filled with tears.
"Mom knows he talked."
"How?"
"Peter told her."
"Where is Nathan?"
Olivia shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Then why are you here?"
Olivia reached into her purse and removed a small envelope.
"Because Mom asked me to put this in your study tonight."
Ryan stared at it.
"What is it?"
"Another transfer authorization."
Emily's face went cold.
Olivia began crying.
"She said if the agents found one more, they would arrest you before morning."
Ryan looked at his sister as if he had never seen her before.
"And you came here to do it?"
Olivia shook her head violently.
"No."
"Then why do you have it?"
"Because I told her I would."
Ryan's jaw tightened.
"Why?"
Olivia whispered, "Because I needed her to trust me long enough to get out of her house."
She held out her phone.
A voice recording was open.
May you like
"I recorded the whole conversation."
