Chapter 4 - The Man Outside
Reyes opened the door halfway.
The man outside wore a charcoal suit without a tie.
He was around fifty, clean-shaven, broad across the shoulders. His smile was careful. His eyes moved past Reyes toward the room.
“Chief. Didn’t realize you were back here.”
“Who are you?”
“Victor Shaw. I handle private security for the event.”
Nina took a step behind my chair.
Shaw noticed.
“We’ve got a staffing issue,” he said. “I need my assistant.”
“She works for Valerie,” Nina said.
His smile held.
“Of course. That’s what I meant.”
I knew the voice.
Not from a face-to-face meeting.
From a recording played over cheap headphones in a surveillance van.
A man called Voss.
A voice approving changes to a shipping route.
The task force had never identified him.
I kept my expression still.
Reyes said, “She’ll come out when she’s ready.”
Shaw’s eyes met mine.
For the first time, his smile weakened.
Then he glanced at the brown envelope.
“I hope nobody’s taking Valerie too seriously. She gets emotional.”
“She deliberately damaged my wife’s clothing,” Anton said.
Shaw gave him a patient look.
“Let’s not turn an embarrassing accident into something bigger.”
“It was already something bigger when she brought a fake police report.”
Silence.
Shaw took a small step back.
“Well. I’m available if needed.”
Reyes closed the door.
I waited until the footsteps faded.
“His voice was on our case recordings.”
Reyes looked at me sharply.
“Are you certain?”
“No. Certain would require comparing them. But I remember that voice.”
Nina put both hands over her mouth.
“He made the file.”
Reyes pulled out a chair.
“Sit down.”
“He told Valerie your husband deserved to know who he married. She paid him to investigate you.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-five thousand dollars.”
Anton stared.
“For that?”
Nina nodded.
“She wanted something humiliating. Debts. An affair. Anything.”
“And Shaw gave her an undercover photograph,” I said.
Nina’s eyes filled.
“He said the records had been buried by someone powerful.”
Reyes asked whether she had messages.
She did.
Invoices too.
When she reached for her phone, it began ringing.
Valerie.
Nina silenced it.
Then a message appeared across the screen.
BRING THE ORIGINAL ENVELOPE. NOW.
A second followed.
DON’T MAKE ME TELL THEM WHAT YOU DID.
Nina started crying.
“What did you do?” I asked.
She looked at Anton.
May you like
Then at me.
“I sent him your home address.”
