Chapter 6 - Vanessa Sinclair's Contract
It was a yellow house.
Crooked windows.
A red door.
Three stick figures holding hands.
Emma had drawn it when she was seven, two weeks before Laura died.
Ethan remembered it because Laura had framed the original.
"What made you draw that again?" he asked.
Emma shrugged.
"I was thinking about Mom."
"What did she call the picture?"
Emma smiled sadly.
"Home three."
HOME THREE.
Ethan entered HOMETHREE.
The archive opened.
Laura's face appeared in a recorded video.
Ethan forgot everyone around him.
She sat in a hotel room.
Seattle.
Three years younger.
Alive.
"If you're watching this," Laura began, "then something went wrong."
Ethan closed his eyes for half a second.
Emma was not allowed to watch.
Not yet.
Marcus closed the office door.
Laura continued.
She had been retained by a whistleblower inside Aurelia Atlantic.
The whistleblower was Adrian Cole.
He had discovered passenger records being modified to conceal unauthorized corporate travel benefits.
At first, it looked like executives receiving upgrades.
Then he found something worse.
Some records were being changed after flights.
Passenger identities.
Travel histories.
Expense trails.
Corporate clients could make certain trips harder to discover.
Not invisible to law enforcement.
But invisible to spouses, shareholders, internal auditors and routine compliance reviews.
Owen Mercer had made some of those changes.
But according to Laura, he was not the architect.
He had been following instructions.
Vanessa sat motionless.
Laura's video continued.
"The access originates through a corporate partnership account."
Marcus looked at Vanessa.
She shook her head.
"No."
Laura named the account.
SINCLAIR GLOBAL TRAVEL SERVICES.
Vanessa stood.
"Turn it off."
Ethan didn't.
Laura explained that Sinclair Global's account had been used as a gateway.
That did not prove Vanessa knew.
But somebody at her company did.
Laura had intended to deliver evidence to regulators.
Her suitcase disappeared after her return flight.
Two days later it was delivered.
That same morning, Laura died in a traffic accident.
Ethan's grief collided with suspicion so violently he had to sit down.
Marcus said carefully, "Ethan, this does not establish that her accident was connected."
"I know."
He forced himself to say it.
Evidence first.
Always.
Laura's video ended with one final instruction.
"Find Adrian. He kept the original."
The screen went dark.
Nobody spoke.
Vanessa looked sick.
"My company wasn't involved in Laura's death."
Ethan stared at her.
"That's not what the video said."
"You're thinking it."
"I'm thinking my wife investigated a system connected to your company and died before reporting it."
Vanessa swallowed.
"My father ran Sinclair Global then."
That changed the room.
"Your father?" Marcus asked.
"Charles Sinclair."
Ethan knew the name.
Charles had retired two years earlier after a stroke.
Vanessa had inherited operational control.
"Did you know about the passenger-data program?"
"No."
"Your signature was on Mercer's termination."
"Because our legal department gave me the case."
"Who?"
Vanessa hesitated.
"Daniel."
Her assistant.
Everyone turned.
Daniel Price was no longer in the room.
Security checked the lounge.
Then the gate.
Then the terminal cameras.
Daniel had left.
His phone had been found in a restroom trash can.
Vanessa stared at the empty chair where he had been sitting.
"He worked for my father."
"How long?"
"Seventeen years."
"Why did he become your assistant?"
"Because my father trusted him."
Ethan stood.
"Then we find Daniel."
Airport police were notified.
Marcus's legal team began preserving Sinclair Global communications tied to the contract.
Vanessa resisted for exactly thirty seconds.
Then she handed over her company tablet.
"Take it."
Ethan looked at her.
"You understand what that could do to your contract?"
"I understand what not doing it could mean."
It was the first decision she made that morning that cost her something.
Ethan noticed.
He didn't praise her.
Basic decency did not require applause.
But he noticed.
The corporate travel contract was suspended.
Sinclair Global's board began calling Vanessa.
She ignored the first three calls.
On the fourth, she answered.
Her father was on the line.
Vanessa went silent.
"Dad?"
Ethan watched her expression.
Whatever Charles Sinclair said drained the remaining color from her face.
"No," Vanessa whispered. "I'm at the airport."
A pause.
"How do you know that?"
Another pause.
Vanessa looked directly at Ethan.
"What do you mean, leave him alone?"
Ethan stood.
Vanessa put the call on speaker.
An elderly man's strained voice filled the room.
"Vanessa, listen to me. Do not involve yourself."
"In what?"
"You don't understand."
"Then explain it."
Charles breathed heavily.
"Where is Daniel?"
"We don't know."
Silence.
"Dad?"
"Go home."
"Did you know Laura Walker?"
The line became completely quiet.
Ethan felt his heartbeat.
Then Charles said, "I knew of her."
Vanessa's eyes filled with disbelief.
"Did Daniel?"
"Vanessa—"
"Did Daniel know Laura Walker?"
"Yes."
Ethan stepped closer.
"Mr. Sinclair."
Charles stopped breathing for a moment.
"Ethan?"
"You know me."
"Of course I know you."
"Did Laura contact you?"
Charles whispered something they couldn't hear.
"What?"
"She warned me."
"About what?"
"The system."
"And what did you do?"
Charles's answer came slowly.
"Nothing."
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Ethan felt anger rise.
"Why?"
"Because exposing it would have destroyed the company."
"My wife died."
"I did not kill your wife."
"Then who did?"
"I don't know."
Ethan believed the fear in his voice.
That was not the same as believing the man.
Charles continued.
"Daniel told me Laura had misunderstood what she found."
"And you believed him?"
"I wanted to."
Vanessa turned away.
Her entire understanding of her father seemed to be collapsing in real time.
Then Charles said something else.
"Vanessa, there is something you need to know about Flight 217."
Everyone froze.
"What?"
"Daniel called me last night."
Ethan moved closer to the phone.
"What did he say?"
Charles began crying.
"He said the Walker reservation had appeared."
"And?"
"He said it was finally time to finish what Laura started."
The line suddenly filled with static.
Then a crash sounded from Charles's side.
Vanessa shouted, "Dad?"
No answer.
"Dad!"
Another sound.
A door opening.
Then a man's voice came through Charles Sinclair's phone.
Calm.
Close.
Familiar to Vanessa.
"Hello, Ms. Sinclair."
May you like
Vanessa whispered the name before the call went dead.
"Daniel..."
