Chapter 12 - The Assistant’s Copy
The investigation moved away from the old task force.
Reyes asked an outside unit to handle the compromised records, and he stepped back from decisions involving his former staff.
It wasn’t dramatic.
It was necessary.
People who had worked together for twenty years could still miss what was standing in front of them.
Nina met us at Elise’s office the following afternoon.
She wore jeans instead of the black dress Valerie required at events.
Without the heels, she looked younger.
“I have something,” she said.
Elise asked whether she wanted her own attorney present.
Nina nodded.
They arranged one before she continued.
An hour later, Nina placed a flash drive on the conference table.
“I didn’t copy police files,” she said quickly. “These are Valerie’s event records. My job was to keep a backup.”
Invoices. Guest lists. Vendor schedules.
And voice notes.
Valerie preferred sending instructions while she drove.
Nina had been required to save them so nobody could claim they misunderstood.
One message had been sent six days before the party.
Valerie sounded irritated.
“Victor, I’m not paying twenty-five grand for blurry pictures. I need something I can put in Anton’s hand.”
Another came two days later.
“Fine. Keep the actual police part out. If she wants to pretend she’s ordinary, let her explain why she was hanging around criminals.”
I felt Anton go still beside me.
Valerie had known.
Not everything.
Enough.
The third recording made Elise stop taking notes.
Valerie’s voice was lower.
“And don’t act like you’re doing me a favor. You wanted a room full of cameras pointed at her. I’m giving you that.”
Nobody spoke after it ended.
Until then, I had thought Shaw had sold Valerie a weapon.
Now I understood he had sold her a reason to use it.
He wanted my face circulating beside my cover name.
If I was publicly discredited, anything I remembered about him could be dismissed as the revenge of a woman caught lying.
And if old associates saw me, he didn’t have to threaten me himself.
Valerie had wanted humiliation.
Shaw had wanted exposure.
Nina wiped her hands on her jeans.
“There’s one more.”
The final message was from Shaw, recorded through Valerie’s office messaging system.
“After Saturday, delete the raw files. Especially anything with Keller’s name.”
Elise looked at Nina’s attorney.
Then at me.
“We’re contacting Detective Ortiz right now.”
Nina’s phone vibrated.
She glanced down.
Her face drained.
Valerie had sent a photograph.
Nina’s apartment door.
May you like
Beneath it were four words.
I KNOW YOU COPIED EVERYTHING.
