Chapter 3 - The Car Outside
Detective Lena Ortiz arrived at 9:18.
She wore a plain navy jacket and the expression of someone who disliked rich people giving orders.
Alexander tried anyway.
“Send officers to the clinic.”
“I’m sending someone to check the address.
First, tell me what you actually know.”
Rebecca put the ultrasound, trust documents, and my phone on the table.
Ortiz listened.
She asked questions nobody else had.
Who had handled the image?
Who had seen the amendment before tonight?
Had anyone physically prevented Dr. Price from leaving?
When she asked Vanessa whether she was pregnant, Vanessa folded her arms.
“I want an attorney.”
Cynthia said the same.
Price asked for water.
I checked the time.
June should have been there.
My phone rang.
“I’m outside the service entrance,” she said.
“There’s a man asking which car is yours.”
My stomach tightened.
“What man?”
“Gray coat.
He knew Lily’s name.”
I turned away from the room.
“Stay in your car.
Lock it.”
Lily sat on a sofa beside a female officer, coloring on hotel stationery.
I walked over and knelt.
“Did you tell anyone Aunt June was coming?”
She shook her head.
“Did anybody talk to you while I was on the phone?”
“The man with the little wire in his ear.”
I knew who she meant.
Daniel Vale.
Head of security for the Whitmore family.
He had spent the evening standing behind Alexander’s father.
I found him on a hallway camera, speaking into his cuff.
Then the feed went black.
Not one camera.
Six.
My system flashed a remote-access warning.
A privileged account was disconnecting the service corridor.
I called Ben.
“Remove outside access.
Now.”
“I’m trying.
Someone changed the admin—”
“Pull the network link.
Keep the local recorders running.”
The screens froze.
Then the warning vanished.
I told Ortiz about the man outside.
She radioed an officer.
Thirty seconds later, June called again.
“He left.”
“What direction?”
“Toward a black SUV.”
Behind me, Alexander said, “Vale works for my father.”
His father had not entered the conference room.
Julian Whitmore was still in the ballroom, calmly telling guests that a family medical matter had been misunderstood.
Ortiz went to find him.
I stayed beside Lily until June came inside with an officer.
My sister hugged me hard.
“You’re shaking.”
“I know.”
Lily wrapped both arms around my neck.
“I should’ve whispered.”
I held her tighter.
“No.
You should never have to whisper the truth.”
After they left through a different entrance, Ben handed me a printout.
He had recovered the final image before the cameras went dark.
Vale stood beside the black SUV.
Someone was visible in the back seat.
May you like
Julian Whitmore.
And on the passenger seat lay a folder marked WESTBRIDGE TRANSFER.
