Chapter 4 - Unraveling the Net
The sight of the offshore bank records shattered whatever composure Robert Sterling had left.
“This is absurd,” Robert sneered, though his voice trembled slightly as he grabbed the papers. “You think you can come in here and make wild allegations based on the word of a squatter and a child?”
“I don't need their word, Robert,” I replied calmly. “Arthur?”
Arthur Vance stepped forward, opening his leather portfolio and reading aloud from a tablet. “At six o'clock this morning, state investigators executed a search warrant on Property 4B. Hidden in the sub-basement beneath the old loading dock, they discovered three hundred thousand dollars' worth of unmanifested consumer electronics, four illegal firearms, and three years of encrypted shipping ledgers.”
Marcus Vance slouched in his chair, putting his head in his hands, completely broken. “I told you we should have cleared that basement, Robert,” he whimpered. “I told you!”
“Shut your mouth!” Robert shouted, slamming his fist on the mahogany table.
He glared at me with pure venom. “You were always too soft for this business, James! You built this company, but you didn't have the stomach to do what was necessary to maximize profits! That warehouse was dead capital sitting on our books! We turned it into a goldmine!”
“By risking human lives?” I asked, stepping closer to him. “By covering up Sarah Davis's death?”
Robert let out a cold, bitter laugh. “Sarah was an idiot who couldn't keep her nose out of things that didn't concern her! She was going to go to the federal auditors! We didn't plan for that pallet to fall, but when it did... it solved a major problem for us.”
He didn't realize that Arthur had already opened his cell phone, streaming every word of the conversation directly to the state prosecutors waiting downstairs.
The conference room doors swung open.
Four uniformed police officers and two plainclothes detectives stepped inside.
“Robert Sterling? Marcus Vance?” the lead detective announced, pulling out handcuffs. “You are under arrest for commercial fraud, racketeering, extortion, and obstruction of justice in connection with the death of Sarah Davis.”
As the officers pulled Marcus from his chair, he began screaming, blaming Robert for everything. Robert said nothing, giving me one final, burning look of hatred as he was marched out of the corporate headquarters in handcuffs past dozens of stunned employees.
I stood by the window, watching the police cruisers drive away into the morning traffic.
The corporate cancer had been cut out, but the human damage remained. A mother was gone. A young man was struggling to survive. And a nine-year-old boy was sleeping on a cot in a cold warehouse.
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Arthur walked up behind me, resting a hand on my shoulder. “What’s the next step, James?”
I looked out at the city skyline. “First, we clear Sarah Davis's name and ensure her estate receives full justice. Second... we bring Connor and Tommy home.”
