Chapter 7: What Maribel Knew
They met at a coffee shop on Clement Street at noon.
I was not there.
Terrence went alone, as Warren had advised.
He called me from the parking lot afterward and I listened without speaking for nearly ten minutes.
Maribel had arrived first.
She was already seated when Terrence walked in, and she had chosen a corner table away from the windows.
She had not ordered anything.
Terrence told me she looked like someone who had made a decision and was already regretting it before she had said a word.
He sat down across from her.
"You said you had something to tell me," he said.
She looked at her hands.
"I need you to know that I didn't understand the full picture when this started.
Lennox told me you were both on board.
She said the investment was agreed."
"It wasn't."
"I know that now." She looked up.
"I knew it about four months in.
When you called me that first time asking about the ownership documents, I realized she hadn't told you the truth.
I should have called you back directly.
I didn't.
That was wrong and I'm not going to pretend otherwise."
"Why are you telling me this now?"
She was quiet for a moment.
"Because Raymond came to see me last night.
After Lennox told him you had been to the storage unit.
He told me to make sure nothing in that unit could be connected to him." She paused.
"He wasn't asking."
Terrence kept his voice level.
"What is Raymond's involvement?"
"He's the one who structured it.
The private loan, the consulting payments, the way the money moved through the LLC.
Lennox came to him with the idea and he built the mechanism around it." She folded her hands on the table.
"I was the front.
My name, my store, my LLC.
I thought I was getting a business partner with capital.
I didn't know about the forged documents until last night when Raymond told me to make sure they were gone."
"They're not gone," Terrence said.
Her face went still.
"I know.
That's why I'm here."
She reached into her bag and placed a USB drive on the table.
Different from the one in the storage box.
Smaller.
A piece of tape on the side with a date written in marker — eighteen months ago.
"That's every email between me, Lennox, and Raymond from the beginning," she said.
"The original investment proposal.
The consulting payment schedule.
The conversation where Lennox told Raymond your signature could be handled." She pushed it toward him.
"I kept copies of everything because I was afraid of him from the start.
I just didn't know how afraid I should have been."
Terrence picked up the drive.
"Maribel," he said.
"Did you know about the house sale?"
She hesitated one second too long.
"I knew the number was different from what she told you," she said.
"I didn't know about Dana until Raymond mentioned her last night."
"So Raymond knew about Dana."
"Raymond arranged Dana," she said quietly.
"Lennox brought him the idea.
He brought her the people."
Terrence set the drive down on the table and looked at her for a long moment.
"You're going to need to tell all of this to a lawyer," he said.
"Not mine.
Your own.
Today."
She nodded.
"And Raymond," Terrence said.
"When he told you to make sure nothing in that unit could be connected to him — what exactly did he say?"
She looked at the table.
"He said, 'Make it clean, Maribel.
You don't want to be the one holding the bag when this comes apart.'"
"He said when.
Not if."
"Yes." She finally looked up.
"He knows it's coming apart.
He's been moving money for three days.
I think he's planning to leave."
Terrence picked up his phone from the table.
He had been recording since he sat down.
He called Warren from the parking lot.
May you like
Warren said four words.
"Send me the file."
