Chapter 5 - The Man At Heather'S Door
Nora called Heather back three times.
No answer.
On the fourth attempt, the phone went straight to voicemail.
Reyes was already moving.
She requested units to Heather's townhouse and told Nora to remain at the house.
Nora refused.
"If Edgar is there, I need to know what he is doing."
"You need to stay alive."
"Those aren't mutually exclusive."
Reyes gave her a look that said she disagreed.
Daniel returned to the kitchen as Nora grabbed her bag.
He listened to the explanation and sided with Reyes immediately.
"You're not going."
"Daniel."
"No."
It was the first time he had spoken to Nora like a client he expected to disobey.
"If Edgar is cornered, you are the last person who should be standing in front of him."
Nora hated the logic because it was correct.
She stayed.
For twenty-three minutes she paced between the kitchen and living room while a forensic technician dusted Edgar's desk.
At 9:36 a.m., Reyes called.
Heather was safe.
Caleb was safe.
Edgar had been there.
He was gone before officers arrived.
"Why was he there?" Nora asked.
"He says Heather called him."
"Did she?"
"She says no."
"Then arrest him."
"For going to a residence where he has apparently spent time before?"
"I need more."
Nora closed her eyes.
"What happened during the call?"
Reyes hesitated.
"According to Heather, he came through the unlocked patio door."
"He broke in."
"She says he has used that door before and knew the code to the community gate."
"What did he want?"
"Documents."
"The same ones that were stolen?"
"He denies taking them."
Nora laughed bitterly.
"Of course he does."
"Heather says he asked whether she had made copies."
That mattered.
Nora could hear it in Reyes's voice.
"Did he threaten her?"
"Not explicitly."
"Edgar doesn't threaten explicitly."
Reyes was silent.
Nora thought of Edgar's message telling Heather that her house, car, and son's school were tied to accounts he controlled.
Control had always been his preferred weapon.
He liked people afraid without giving them a sentence they could quote.
"Heather is going to the P.O. box with an officer," Reyes said.
"If the envelope is there, we will preserve it."
Nora exhaled.
"Call me when you open it."
"I can't promise that."
"Then call Daniel."
"I can promise we'll follow the evidence."
The call ended.
Marcus arrived at the house forty minutes later with a laptop and a face Nora did not like.
"We have a bigger problem."
Nora led him into the study.
"How big?"
"Desert Meridian is only one vendor."
Nora sat slowly.
Marcus opened a spreadsheet.
There were seven entities.
Desert Meridian Logistics.
Copper State Procurement.
Valley Aggregate Advisory.
Red Butte Fleet Services.
Mesa Industrial Strategies.
Three of the names sounded close enough to legitimate vendors that a distracted approver might not notice.
The total outflow over twenty-six months was 3.8 million dollars.
Nora stared at the number.
"How did our auditors miss this?"
"Because the payments were fragmented."
"Who approved them?"
"Different people."
"Who initiated them?"
Marcus clicked another tab.
A list of employee credentials appeared.
Nora recognized all the names.
One belonged to a controller who had retired last year.
One belonged to a project manager who died eight months earlier.
One belonged to Nora herself.
"Old credentials," she said.
"Exactly."
"Someone kept accounts active after people left."
"Yes."
"Who had permission to do that?"
Marcus did not answer immediately.
Nora looked at him.
"Who?"
"IT administration and the CFO's office."
Nora felt another door open beneath her feet.
The CFO of Preston Supply Group was Evan Calder.
Evan had been with her for six years.
He had attended her wedding anniversary dinners.
He had sat beside Edgar at Suns games.
"Where is Evan?"
"He called in sick this morning."
Nora stood.
"Freeze his access."
"Already done."
"Send security to collect his company devices."
"Already happening."
"Call him."
Marcus did not move.
"I did."
"And?"
"His phone is off."
Nora looked toward the window.
Her company had become successful because she trusted competent people and gave them room to act.
Edgar had spent years telling her she worked too much because she could not delegate emotionally.
Now she wondered how many times he had encouraged her to trust the wrong person.
"Was Evan connected to the staffing firm that sent Allison Pierce?"
Marcus's fingers moved over the keyboard.
He opened an old approval chain.
Evan had signed the temporary staffing agreement.
Edgar had been copied on the email.
Nora's stomach tightened.
"Why was Edgar copied?"
Marcus scrolled.
"He introduced the recruiter."
The pattern was becoming visible.
Marcus opened another file and showed Nora how the shell vendors had been introduced into the accounting system.
Each one arrived with a believable certificate of insurance, tax form, banking letter, and service agreement.
The documents looked routine because somebody understood exactly what routine looked like inside Preston Supply.
One vendor copied the formatting of a legitimate Nevada trucking company.
Another used the address of an empty office suite two doors from a real supplier Nora had visited.
A third had a telephone number that routed to an answering service trained to say only that accounting would return the call.
No single document screamed fraud.
Together they showed patience.
"This wasn't a smash-and-grab," Marcus said.
"No," Nora answered.
"They wanted to live inside the company."
The realization made the theft more personal.
Someone had studied approval habits, vacation schedules, audit thresholds, and the names employees recognized without thinking.
They had learned the rhythms Nora spent years creating and used those rhythms as camouflage.
Nora asked Marcus to preserve even the harmless-looking vendor files.
The lies that blended in best might prove who knew the company best.
Not complete.
But visible.
Edgar had not needed a job at Nora's company.
He had built doors into it through people who did.
A legal assistant.
A CFO.
A vendor network.
Access to Nora's signature.
Access to her insurance paperwork.
Nora's phone rang.
Daniel.
She answered on speaker.
"The envelope exists," he said.
"What's in it?"
"Heather's officer opened it in her presence."
Paper rustled on his end.
"There are copies of three documents."
"What documents?"
"A trust agreement for Caleb."
Nora waited.
"A residential lease assignment."
"And?"
Daniel went quiet.
"An affidavit Heather signed stating that Edgar is Caleb's biological father."
Nora felt a strange pressure in her chest.
It hurt, but not in the way the affair had hurt.
This was evidence.
Evidence could be used.
"Anything else?"
"There is a fourth page she apparently didn't understand."
"What page?"
"A beneficiary acknowledgment tied to a private survivorship trust."
Nora frowned.
"Whose trust?"
"Yours."
The room became completely silent.
Nora looked at Marcus.
His face had changed too.
"I don't have a survivorship trust."
"According to this document, you do."
"Who created it?"
"The attorney listed is someone named Michael Trent."
Daniel paused.
"Do you know him?"
Nora did.
Michael Trent had been Edgar's college roommate.
He had come to their wedding.
Nora had not spoken to him in years.
"What does the trust say?"
Daniel exhaled slowly.
"If you die, certain assets transfer to Edgar."
"Which assets?"
"The Paradise Valley house."
Nora closed her eyes.
Caleb had told them Grandma Kris said they were moving to the big house.
Daniel continued.
"And any shares of Preston Supply Group held personally in your name at the time of death."
Nora opened her eyes.
"That's almost all of them."
"I know."
"I never signed that."
"I know."
Marcus stood so abruptly his chair rolled backward.
"Call the police."
Daniel's voice sharpened.
"I already did."
Nora gripped the edge of the desk.
The snake had never been about twenty-five million dollars alone.
The insurance money was only the easiest part to see.
If Nora had died in that bed, Edgar would have claimed the policy, the house, and control of the company she had spent twelve years building.
And Kristina had already told Caleb where he would live.
Marcus's phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
"What?" Nora asked.
"Security reached Evan Calder's house."
"And?"
Marcus looked at her.
"The front door was open."
Nora's mouth went dry.
"Where is Evan?"
Marcus swallowed.
"They don't know."
Then he added the detail that made Daniel start giving orders before the call even ended.
May you like
Evan's company laptop was gone.
But his blood was on the kitchen floor.
