Chapter 33 - The Midnight Summons
The secure line connected on the third ring.
"This is Marcus Vance," a deep, authoritative voice answered. There was no relation to Evelyn; Marcus was the senior partner at Vance & Sterling, the high-powered corporate litigation firm Claire had retained when restructuring her business holdings earlier that year. "Claire? Do you know what time it is?"
"I have an uninvited guest in my kitchen, Marcus," Claire said smoothly, her eyes fixed on Evelyn, who was watching her with bated breath. "And she brought a very interesting reading assignment for us."
"Go on," Marcus’s tone shifted instantly from sleepy annoyance to sharp, professional alertness.
"Corporate embezzlement, offshore shell companies, falsified regulatory filings, and forged signatures using a senior partner's credentials at Daniel's firm," Claire listed off the points with clinical precision, reading directly from the documents Evelyn had provided. "Oh, and the primary guarantor on the fraudulent loans is none other than Eleanor Sterling."
A low whistle came through the receiver. "Good lord. That's not just a civil matter. That's federal penitentiary territory. Insider trading mixed with systemic fraud. How did you get these?"
"His assistant walked through my back door ten minutes ago, running for her life," Claire replied calmly. "She has the encrypted drive with the digital backups. Every email, every transfer record, every forged signature."
"Listen to me very carefully, Claire," Marcus said, his voice dropping to a low, urgent pitch. "Do not let that woman leave your house. Do not let her talk to anyone else. I am waking up my contact at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston right now. We are going to execute a preemptive document preservation order before Daniel realizes his office has been compromised and scrubs the servers."
"I'll keep her safe," Claire assured him. "What about Daniel?"
"Daniel?" Marcus chuckled darkly, a sound devoid of any warmth. "By sunrise, he won't just be getting a divorce. He'll be getting a pair of federal marshals waiting for him at his penthouse door with a warrant he can't talk his way out of."
"Call me back when the warrant is signed," Claire said, and disconnected the call.
She set the phone down on the counter and looked across at Evelyn, who looked like she had just carried a mountain across a frozen desert and finally set it down.
"Well?" Evelyn whispered.
May you like
"Finish your tea, Evelyn," Claire said softly, walking over to the pantry to pull out a spare blanket. "By morning, your nightmare is going to become Daniel's reality."
***
