Chapter 9 - The Final Audit
"Put the magnet down, Julian," I said, stepping into the room, my voice flat, empty, and devoid of any fear.
Julian let out a dry, rattling laugh, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. "You think you've won, don't you? You think because some airport police officer found a forged paper you're going to destroy my family?"
He reached into the open safe, his hand closing around a small black velvet box.
"My father has three state supreme court justices on retainer, Clara," Julian said, stepping around his executive desk, holding the velvet box in his hand. "By noon tomorrow, the airport arrest will be declared an illegal search. The evidence will be suppressed. And you... you will be sitting in a private room at Pine Crest explaining to a panel of state doctors why you showed up at my office at three in the morning with armed men."
"Your father’s justices can't help you, Julian," I said.
I stepped aside. Agent Reyes walked into the bright light of the office, holding up a blue legal folder bearing the embossed seal of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
"Julian Vance," Reyes said, her voice echoing through the massive office. "At 2:45 AM, a federal grand jury returned a twenty-four-count sealed indictment against you, Arthur Vance, Eleanor Vance, and Dr. Aris Thorne for federal wire fraud, enterprise racketeering, foreign asset laundering, and second-degree murder in the death of Charles Sterling."
Julian’s face went completely grey. The small velvet box slipped from his fingers, hitting the Persian rug with a soft thud.
"Second-degree murder?" Julian whispered, his knees visibly shaking beneath his trousers. "Charles... Charles died of a heart attack..."
"We opened Locker 114 thirty minutes ago, Julian," I said, stepping right up to his desk, looking dead into his wide, terrified eyes. "We found your secondary ledger. We found the compound orders signed by Dr. Thorne. And we found Sarah."
Julian took two fast steps back, hitting the glass window behind his desk, staring at me as if I were a demon risen from the earth. "Sarah... Sarah is catatonic... she can't speak..."
"She spoke tonight, Julian," I whispered, every word landing like an iron hammer. "She gave us the key to Locker 114. She told us about the monthly visits with Maya. And she’s currently sitting in a federal witness protection facility in Evanston, signing her official deposition for the State Attorney General."
Julian sank down into his leather executive chair, his head falling into his hands as a long, strangulated sob tore out of his chest.
"I did it for the firm, Clara..." he wept, his smooth, aristocratic composure completely destroyed, revealing the small, pathetic coward underneath. "My father... my father told me if I didn't double our asset yield, the partners would remove me... I had to secure the Sterling trust..."
"You didn't do it for the firm, Julian," I said, reaching down and pulling the silver briefcase containing the stolen bearer bonds off his desk. "You did it because you're a thief who thought he could use women and children like disposable paper."
Agent Reyes stepped forward, pulling Julian’s arms behind his back and snapping a pair of heavy steel federal handcuffs onto his wrists with a definitive, metallic CLICK.
May you like
"Julian Vance," Reyes read him his rights in a dry, monotonous tone. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..."
I turned my back on my husband, walking out of his corner office, out down the marble corridor, and into the waiting elevator, leaving him to be escorted down through the basement bay in chains.
