Her name was Sarah Keene.
It took Adrian’s people nine hours to find her.
She had been twenty-four when Danny died.
A dispatcher at Vale Transportation.
According to employment records, she quit two days after his disappearance and moved to Vermont.
Then she vanished from every official database.
Emily understood that kind of disappearance.
By noon the next day, Leo found a connection to a small bookstore in rural Massachusetts.
The owner had changed her surname.
Sarah Keene was now Sarah Bell.
Emily insisted on going.
Adrian argued for approximately thirty seconds.
Then stopped when he realized she was going with or without him.
They reached the bookstore shortly before closing.
A bell rang as Emily entered.
A woman behind the counter looked up.
Mid-thirties.
Brown hair.
Soft eyes.
Then she saw Emily.
A book slipped from her hands.
“Emily?”
Emily froze.
“You know me.”
Sarah’s face crumpled.
“Oh, God.”
She rushed around the counter and stopped several feet away.
“I’m sorry.”
Emily’s anger rose immediately.
“For what?”
Sarah looked toward Adrian.
Then back to Emily.
“For running.”
Emily laughed once.
Sharp.
“You and me both.”
Sarah locked the shop.
They sat in a small office behind the store.
For several minutes nobody spoke.
Finally Sarah looked at Danny’s notebook.
“He found it.”
“He hid it,” Emily said.
“I thought Malcolm got everything.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Tell us what happened.”
Sarah looked frightened.
Emily recognized that fear.
She had lived inside it for three years.
“Danny and I worked together.”
“You were dating?” Emily asked.
Sarah smiled sadly.
“No. He wanted to.”
That sounded exactly like Danny.
“He was terrible at asking women out.”
Sarah laughed through tears.
“He asked me to a Phillies game four times without actually saying the words ‘go with me.’”
Emily’s chest tightened.
“What happened?”
“We found missing inventory.”
Sarah explained the scheme.
Vincent Cole used Adrian’s legitimate transportation company to reroute medical shipments.
Thomas Vale arranged drivers and warehouses.
Malcolm Shaw created fake paperwork, then used his legal access to protect the transactions.
Millions disappeared.
But that was not the worst part.
“When Danny realized what they were stealing, he got angry,” Sarah said.
“Why?”
“Some shipments were emergency pediatric medications. Hospitals were reporting shortages.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Of course.
Danny could ignore danger to himself.
Never to children.
“He started copying records,” Sarah continued. “I helped.”
“Malcolm found out?”
“Eventually.”
Sarah looked at Adrian.
“Danny believed you didn’t know.”
“He was right.”
“He wanted to tell you directly.”
“And that got him killed.”
Sarah lowered her head.
“The night at the warehouse, Danny planned to meet one of your men. Someone he thought he could trust.”
“Who?”
Sarah looked at Adrian.
“Leo Navarro.”
Emily turned sharply toward Adrian.
Adrian’s expression changed.
“Leo?”
Sarah nodded.
“Danny said Leo was the only person close enough to you who wasn’t on Shaw’s payroll.”
Emily stared at Adrian.
“Did Leo know?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Danny never reached him.”
Sarah’s hands trembled.
“I was with Danny outside the warehouse when Vincent and Malcolm arrived.”
Emily remembered watching from behind the truck.
She had not seen Sarah.
“I was there too,” Emily whispered.
Sarah stared at her.
“You were?”
“Across the lot.”
“Oh, Emily.”
“What happened after I left?”
Sarah’s eyes filled.
“Danny told me to run.”
Emily already knew the rest would hurt.
“He gave me a folder and told me to take it to you if anything happened.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Sarah began crying.
“Because Raymond Cole found me first.”
Emily’s blood chilled.
“Raymond.”
“He said Danny was dead. Said you were next. Said Malcolm knew your address.”
“The fake detective.”
Sarah nodded.
“He told me if I contacted you, I’d get you killed.”
“So you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
Emily sat back.
For years she had hated herself for running.
Now the woman sitting across from her carried the same guilt.
“What was in the folder?”
“Names. Bank accounts. Proof.”
“Where is it?”
Sarah shook her head.
“Gone. Raymond took it.”
Adrian spoke quietly.
“Why would Raymond help his brother and then warn you?”
Sarah looked at him.
“He wasn’t helping Vincent.”
Silence.
“What?”
“Raymond hated what Vincent was doing.”
Emily frowned.
“Then why impersonate a detective?”
“To protect us.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Raymond really had been a detective. Just not anymore. He kept his old badge. When Vincent discovered Danny was collecting evidence, Raymond tried to help.”
Emily’s mind reeled.
“So Raymond didn’t scare me away for Malcolm?”
“No. He saved your life.”
Emily felt sick.
Three years of suspicion had turned again.
“What happened to Raymond?”
Sarah looked down.
“I don’t know.”
Adrian stood and walked toward the window.
“Vincent disappeared after Danny’s death.”
Sarah shook her head.
“No.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
“Vincent didn’t disappear.”
“Yes, he did.”
“He changed names.”
Adrian walked closer.
“To what?”
Sarah opened a drawer.
She removed an old newspaper clipping.
A photograph showed a charity gala.
Malcolm Shaw stood beside several donors.
In the background was a man with a shaved head.
Older than Emily remembered.
But familiar.
Sarah pointed.
“That’s Vincent.”
Adrian took the clipping.
“Impossible.”
“No.”
Emily looked at the caption beneath the photo.
The man was identified as Victor Crane, head of security for Shaw Holdings.
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“He’s been in New York the entire time.”
Sarah nodded.
“Close to Malcolm.”
“And close to me.”
Adrian took out his phone.
He called Leo.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Emily saw the concern in his eyes.
“What?”
“Victor Crane’s security company handles overflow personnel for several of my properties.”
Sarah’s face drained.
Adrian called another number.
“Check Leo’s location.”
A pause.
His expression changed.
“When?”
He ended the call.
“Leo disappeared forty minutes ago.”
Emily stood.
“Shaw has him?”
“Maybe.”
Then Sarah’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She looked at Adrian.
He nodded.
Sarah answered.
“Hello?”
A man’s voice.
“Sarah.”
She went white.
“Raymond?”
Emily’s heart stopped.
The voice continued.
“If Emily Brennan is with you, listen carefully. Malcolm knows where you are.”
Emily leaned toward the phone.
“Raymond?”
Silence.
Then the man on the other end started crying.
“Emily.”
She had heard that voice once before.
Three years ago.
In her apartment.
Telling her to pack one suitcase and disappear.
“You’re alive.”
“Barely.”
“Where are you?”
“No time.”
“Where are you?”
“Malcolm took Leo because he thinks Leo has the drive.”
Adrian leaned closer.
“He doesn’t.”
“I know.”
Raymond took a shaky breath.
“Malcolm doesn’t just want the files. There’s something on that drive Danny never understood.”
Emily looked at the laptop bag.
“What?”
“A recording.”
“What recording?”
“Open file D-17.”
Adrian found it.
An audio file.
He pressed play.
Static.
Danny’s voice.
Then Malcolm Shaw.
Then another voice.
A voice Adrian recognized instantly.
He stared at the laptop.
Emily looked at him.
“Who?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
The recording continued.
Malcolm said, “Once Mercer is dead, the board will fall in line.”
The second voice replied:
“And his sister?”
Malcolm answered.
“She’ll sign whatever we put in front of her.”
Adrian stopped the recording.
Emily saw fury in his face.
“Who is that?”
He looked at her.
“My uncle.”
The room became silent.
Raymond was still on the phone.
“He’s the one financing Malcolm.”
Adrian’s voice hardened.
“My uncle has been dead for eight years.”
Raymond answered.
“No, Adrian.”
A pause.
“He just wanted you to think he was.”