Chapter 7 - The Brother in the Building
Dominic Vale arrived at Bellamy House at 3:06 p.m.
He was thirty-six, four years younger than Adrian, and looked enough like him to make the difference unsettling.
Same dark eyes.
Same controlled voice.
But Dominic smiled more.
That worried Claire immediately.
“You’re the accountant waitress,” he said.
“Former accountant.”
“Adrian always finds unusual help.”
Adrian did not smile.
“Sit.”
Dominic looked at the open laptop.
“What’s this?”
“A conversation.”
“About?”
“Elena Ruiz.”
The smile disappeared.
“I thought we buried that.”
Claire’s head snapped toward him.
Dominic frowned.
“Bad choice of words.”
“Very.”
Adrian said, “What did Elena find?”
“I don’t know.”
“Your initials are on her recording.”
Dominic stared at him.
Then he laughed.
“D.V. is not exactly rare.”
“In my organization it is.”
Dominic leaned back.
“You really think I’m stealing from you?”
“I think you’re going to explain why your approval code appears on fourteen payments routed through Raymond.”
Dominic stopped moving.
Claire opened the records.
One by one.
He studied them.
Then said, “Those aren’t my approvals.”
Adrian’s voice hardened.
“They use your token.”
“Then someone cloned it.”
“Possible?” Claire asked.
Dominic looked at her.
“Yes. Difficult, but possible.”
“Who could do it?”
“Our systems administrator. Raymond. Adrian.”
“And you.”
“Yes.”
Claire studied him.
“Where were you the night Elena disappeared?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Home.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
“You’re very comfortable questioning people in my brother’s building.”
“I’m very comfortable with numbers. People are harder.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Dominic did not.
Then he looked at Adrian.
“You want truth? Fine. Raymond came to me two years ago. Said you were losing control.”
Adrian’s expression froze.
“He asked me to help move assets.”
“What assets?”
“I refused.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I thought he was testing me for you.”
Adrian looked genuinely stunned.
Claire realized something important.
These men trusted systems more than each other.
That was why Raymond had survived.
Dominic stood.
“You want to know who can clone my token? Ask Jonah Price.”
“Who is that?” Claire said.
Adrian answered.
“Our head of IT.”
Dominic gave a humorless smile.
“Or he was.”
Claire frowned.
“Was?”
Dominic looked at his phone.
“Jonah didn’t come to work today.”
Adrian called.
No answer.
Then Claire’s phone buzzed.
Unknown sender.
A photograph appeared.
Jonah Price tied to a chair.
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Under it, one line:
STOP AUDITING OR HE DIES.
