Chapter 6: Someone Was Already Watching
Cameron did not go inside immediately.
He stayed in the car and looked at the street.
Nothing moved.
The neighbors' houses were dark.
A single car was parked two properties down — a gray sedan he didn't recognize — but it had been there for three days and he had already noted the plates.
He forwarded the photograph to Grace with a single line: *Taken five minutes ago.
Outside our house.*
Then he called the non-emergency line for the Atlanta Police Department and reported a harassment incident.
The officer on the line took the information, gave him a case reference number, and told him a patrol car would pass the street within the hour.
Cameron went inside.
Natalie was in the kitchen.
She had poured herself a glass of water and was standing at the counter, still in her coat, not drinking it.
"Someone photographed the house tonight," he said.
"After we arrived."
She set the glass down.
He showed her the image.
She looked at it for a long time.
"They were here before we were," she said.
"Yes."
"That means they knew we were coming home.
They knew the party was ending." She looked up.
"Logan left before us.
He had time."
"Or he made a call before he left."
"To Pruitt."
"Or to whoever sent the text."
Natalie finally took off her coat and draped it over the back of a chair.
"I want to know who the three signatories are," she said.
"Tonight.
Not tomorrow."
"Grace needs access to the state filing records.
She can't pull those until—"
"I can." Natalie was already moving toward the small desk in the corner of the kitchen where she kept her laptop.
"The Georgia Secretary of State's business registry is public.
If the company is incorporated in this state, the filing is searchable."
Cameron watched her sit down and open the laptop.
"What's the company name?" she asked.
"Meridian Residential Partners LLC."
Her fingers moved across the keyboard.
The page loaded.
She found the filing in under a minute.
Four listed members.
Natalie A.
Blake.
Darnell Pruitt.
A third name: Warren Holt.
A fourth: C.
Pierce.
Natalie's hand stopped on the trackpad.
"C.
Pierce," she said.
"Logan's middle name is Christopher," Cameron said.
"I know what his middle name is." She stared at the screen.
"He listed himself.
He put his own initial on the filing."
"He thought it would never be found.
Or he thought that if it was, you would be the one named as primary owner and he could claim he was a silent investor you had recruited."
"Warren Holt," she said.
"Who is Warren Holt?"
"I don't know that name."
She typed it into a search.
The first result was a LinkedIn profile.
Warren Holt, Senior Vice President, Meridian Capital Group, Atlanta.
The second result was a society page photograph from a charity gala eighteen months ago.
Warren Holt was standing beside two other men in formal wear, smiling at the camera.
One of the men beside him was Darnell Pruitt.
The other was Logan Pierce.
Natalie turned the laptop so Cameron could see.
"They've known each other for at least eighteen months," she said.
"This was organized before Logan ever came back into my life."
Cameron looked at the photograph.
"Logan reached out to you again about two years ago," he said slowly.
"Started texting.
Suggested getting coffee.
You told me it was harmless."
"I thought it was."
"He was already in business with these men when he made contact with you."
The kitchen was very quiet.
"He came back for the account," Natalie said.
"Not for me.
He came back because I had a joint account with a stable credit history and a husband who trusted me enough not to monitor every transaction." Her voice was steady but her hands were not.
"I was the access point.
That's all I ever was to him."
Cameron pulled a chair from the table and sat down close to her.
"Grace will have all three names by morning," he said.
"Pruitt, Holt, Logan.
The forgery, the transfers, the intimidation message, the photograph — it builds a case.
A real one."
"Will it be enough?"
"Yes."
She looked at him.
"You sound certain."
"I am."
"Why?"
"Because Logan made one mistake he can't recover from." Cameron leaned forward slightly.
"He put your name on that company.
He needed a clean identity to front the LLC.
He chose yours because he thought you were manageable.
But the moment he forged your signature, he made you a victim of record.
Not a participant.
A victim.
And that changes everything about how the law looks at the rest of it."
Natalie was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, "He thought I was the weakest part of the plan."
"Yes."
"He was wrong."
"Yes," Cameron said.
"He was."
Her phone lit up on the counter.
A message from an unsaved number.
*You opened the filing.
Smart.
Now you know what you're dealing with.
Walk away and we make this simple.
Push further and your husband's firm gets a visit from the SEC on Monday morning.*
Cameron read it over her shoulder.
He picked up his phone and called Grace back.
She answered on the second ring.
"They just threatened my firm," he said.
"I know," Grace said.
"I got the same message thirty seconds ago from a different number." A pause.
"Cameron, they're not trying to scare you anymore.
They're trying to stop you before Monday."
"What happens Monday?"
May you like
"I filed a fraud referral with the Georgia Attorney General's office on Friday afternoon," she said.
"Someone inside that office talked."
