Chapter 8: The Message
The number had a Chicago area code.
The message was four sentences long.
*My name is Patricia Welles.
I was Derek Cole's business partner from 2017 to 2021.
I have documents you need to see.
I've been waiting for someone in your family to look closely enough to find them.*
I showed the message to Elliot.
He read it twice.
"Do you know her?"
"No."
"Do you want me to make contact?"
I thought about it.
"Give me an hour."
I stepped outside.
The air was cold and clean after the rain.
I called the number.
She answered on the first ring, as though she had been holding the phone.
"Ms.
Harmon." Her voice was steady, professional, somewhere in her fifties.
"Thank you for calling."
"Tell me who you are," I said.
"I was Derek's silent partner in a property development fund.
We raised capital from private investors between 2017 and 2021.
The fund was dissolved.
The investors were told the projects had failed." A pause.
"They hadn't failed.
The money was moved."
I stood very still on the pavement.
"Where was it moved?"
"Some of it went into the Delaware account you found tonight.
I've been watching the filings for months.
When I saw the Millbrook transfer go through this afternoon, I knew tonight was the night."
"How do you know about tonight?"
"Because I've been watching Derek for three years," she said simply.
"I lost four hundred thousand dollars in that fund.
I was not the only one."
I looked back through the restaurant window.
My father was still at the table.
Vanessa had her face in her hands.
My mother was sitting beside her — not touching her, but close.
"How many investors?" I asked.
"Eleven.
Total losses just over two point three million."
I closed my eyes briefly.
"And you have documentation."
"Everything.
Wire transfers, fund agreements, communications.
I tried to pursue it legally two years ago.
My attorney told me without a named complainant with standing, it was difficult to move forward." Another pause.
"You have standing, Ms.
Harmon.
Your family's company was used as part of the structure."
"Send everything to my attorney tonight," I said.
"His name is Elliot Marsh.
I'll text you his contact details in the next five minutes."
"I'll send it within the hour."
"Ms.
Welles." I stopped.
"Why did you wait?
Why not go to the authorities directly?"
A quiet moment on the line.
"Because Derek is very good at making things look like misunderstandings," she said.
"I needed someone who could prove it wasn't."
I went back inside.
Elliot looked up when I sat down.
"We need to make a call in the morning," I said.
"Not to our lawyers."
"To whom?"
"The financial crimes unit." I set my phone on the table.
"Derek wasn't just protecting himself from the audit.
He's been running a separate scheme for years.
Your family's company was one piece of it."
My father looked up sharply.
"There are eleven other victims," I said.
"Two point three million dollars."
The room went very quiet.
Vanessa lifted her head from her hands.
Her face was pale and still.
"I didn't know," she said.
I looked at her.
"I believe you."
"Claire—"
"I believe you," I said again.
"But believing you doesn't change what has to happen next."
She nodded.
She understood.
My father reached across the table and placed his hand over mine.
He didn't say anything.
He didn't need to.
May you like
It was the first time in twenty-nine years he had reached for my hand first.
I didn't pull away.
