Chapter 6 - THE MISSING ACCOUNTANT
I pushed the phone across the table.
Luca read the message.
His face changed.
“Who is she talking about?”
“Mara Ellis.”
“What happened to her?”
“She stopped coming to work.”
“When?”
“Monday.”
“The day before Vanessa left.”
“Yes.”
“Were you planning to tell me that between dessert and another lie?”
He looked away.
I stood.
“Sit down,” he said.
“No.”
People turned.
Luca lowered his voice.
“Please.”
I stayed standing.
“Mara ran compliance for one of my companies,” he said. “She flagged the payments. She called me Monday morning. By afternoon, she was gone.”
“Did you call the police?”
“She emailed that she was taking leave. Her sister said she needed privacy. There was no basis for me to declare her missing.”
“But you looked for her.”
“Yes.”
“And Vanessa wants me to think you did something to her.”
“Yes.”
I watched him.
“Did you?”
“No.”
I wanted to believe him.
That frightened me.
My phone buzzed beneath my hand.
Unknown number.
Leave through the kitchen. Come alone if you want answers.
I showed Luca.
For once, he didn’t try to take over.
“Tell Elena,” he said. “Share your location. Meet somewhere public.”
We changed the meeting.
I chose an all-night pharmacy with cameras and people inside.
Luca waited across the street.
A woman in a baseball cap stood beside the greeting cards.
“Claire?”
“Mara?”
She nodded.
“You sent the warnings?”
“The first ones. Not Vanessa’s.”
“You could have just called.”
“And said what? Your husband is stealing money, and the man investigating him thinks you helped?”
She looked exhausted.
“Why disappear?”
“Because Martin told me he knew where my sister’s kids went to school.”
My stomach tightened.
Mara handed me a printed email.
It came from Martin’s Westbridge address.
Luca, we should keep this internal until we identify the full exposure.
Luca’s reply appeared underneath.
Agreed. No outside disclosure yet.
I stared at the date.
Four days before Ryan left.
“He didn’t know they were running,” Mara said. “But he knew something was wrong.”
“Why not go directly to police?”
“I’ve been gathering what I can give them. Elena can help me do it properly.”
She stepped closer.
“Ryan wasn’t smart enough to build this.”
“Then who was?”
“Martin.”
She glanced toward the window.
“And Vanessa wasn’t just sleeping with your husband.”
May you like
Mara placed a corporate ownership record in my hand.
“She owned half his company.”
