Chapter 7 - The Woman in the Burgundy Dress
Alexander locked the study door.
Emily grabbed the ledger.
The footsteps stopped outside.
A knock.
“Alexander?”
He recognized the voice.
The blonde woman from Emily's interview waiting room.
Madeline Pierce.
Alexander opened the door cautiously.
Emily stared.
“You.”
Madeline looked ashamed.
“I owe you an apology.”
“For which part?”
“The laughing.”
Emily said nothing.
Madeline explained that she wasn't an applicant.
She worked for Pierce & Cole, Whitmore's external auditing firm.
She had been planted in the waiting room to observe recruitment practices after anonymous discrimination complaints.
The brunette had been another investigator.
The mockery?
Not authorized.
Madeline admitted she'd crossed a line.
Emily didn't forgive her immediately.
That mattered.
Madeline then revealed why she'd come.
Her firm had received evidence that Charles planned to destroy historical financial records that weekend.
“The ledger you're holding may be the only original left.”
Alexander asked how she knew they were at the lake house.
Madeline hesitated.
“Someone inside Whitmore is tracking Emily's employee badge.”
They removed the badge.
Returned through a private route.
The ledger confirmed much of Martin's story.
But the final pages were missing.
Pages containing authorization signatures.
Without them, Charles could argue that subordinates acted independently.
Emily felt defeated.
Alexander didn't.
“Your father didn't trust names,” he reminded her.
“Trust the numbers before you trust the names.”
They examined the transactions again.
Emily saw it.
Every fraudulent transfer ended in a three-digit authorization suffix.
Again.
Again.
An executive authorization code.
Alexander searched historical systems.
The code belonged to—
The screen locked.
SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR OVERRIDE.
Then the office lights went dark.
Emergency lights illuminated the hallway.
Alexander stood.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“We're done with me staying behind.”
They moved together.
At the elevator stood Charles Whitmore.
Calm.
Immaculate.
Waiting.
“You two look tired.”
Alexander stepped forward.
“What did you do?”
Charles smiled.
“You'll need to be more specific.”
Emily held the ledger behind her.
Charles noticed.
His smile disappeared.
“Where did you get that?”
Emily knew immediately.
He recognized it.
Alexander did too.
Charles reached inside his coat.
Emily's breath caught.
He removed a phone.
Then placed it on the table.
A video was playing.
Diane Carter sat inside an unfamiliar room.
Alive.
Terrified.
Charles looked at Emily.
“If you want your mother to come home, bring me the ledger.”
The video shifted.
Someone entered the room behind Diane.
Emily leaned toward the screen.
May you like
And when the person's face appeared, she whispered one name.
“Vanessa?”
