Chapter 6: The Person Who Was Supposed to Be on Her Side
His name was Patrick Greer.
He had the office two doors down from Audrey's.
He brought his own coffee every morning in a thermos with a university logo on it.
He had attended her going-away lunch when she went on maternity leave and signed the card with a small drawing of a briefcase, which everyone had found funny because they all knew about her briefcase, and she had laughed along with them.
She had trusted him completely.
Diana laid out what Renata Sousa had provided: a series of encrypted messages between Greer and a contact number registered to Harlan Voss's firm.
The messages spanned eight months.
The earliest ones were vague — general references to timelines, to review schedules.
The later ones were more specific.
*Warrant sealed.
Execution window likely within 30 days.*
*Target event confirmed.
Sterling Ridge.
Saturday.*
*She'll have the briefcase.
Everything is in it.*
Audrey read each one.
She read them twice.
"He told them I would have the briefcase at the wedding," she said.
"Yes."
"They knew what I was carrying."
"They knew."
"Which means Eleanor locking me in that bathroom—" Audrey stopped.
"Was not just about the wedding," Diana said.
"We believe the intention was to separate you from the briefcase long enough for someone to access it."
"There was a catering staff member in the service corridor," Audrey said.
"When Eleanor was pulling me through.
He was standing near the storage rooms.
He looked at the briefcase."
"We're looking at him now."
Audrey set the messages down.
"Patrick sat in our team briefings," she said.
"He knew the full scope of the investigation.
He knew about the shell corporations, the payroll scheme, the authorization signatures.
He knew about Julian."
"Yes."
"And he sold it."
"For a significant sum," Diana said.
"The deposits into his account go back fourteen months."
Audrey looked at the table.
"He signed the card at my going-away lunch," she said.
Diana said nothing.
"He drew a little briefcase on it." Audrey's voice was very quiet.
"Because he thought it was funny."
"Audrey—"
"I'm fine." She looked up.
"What happens to him?"
"He was placed on administrative leave this morning.
The internal affairs unit has the messages.
Federal obstruction charges are being prepared."
"And Voss?"
"His firm is under review for improper contact with a sealed investigation.
His bar license is at risk."
Audrey nodded slowly.
"The Sterling family knew," she said.
"They knew the warrant was coming.
They knew I would have the evidence with me.
They had a plan." She paused.
"And the plan failed because I used the field phone instead of my regular one."
"Because your regular phone had no reception inside the stone building," Diana said.
"Yes."
"Which nobody accounted for."
"No." Audrey almost smiled.
"They planned for everything except the walls."
---
Three days later, Julian called again.
She almost didn't answer.
Then she thought about what Diana had told her — that he had known about her father's name on the filing before the wedding — and she answered.
"I know you spoke to Diana," he said.
"Then you know what I know."
"Audrey, about your father—"
"Don't."
"I need you to understand that I didn't—"
"Julian." Her voice was controlled.
"You knew my father's name was on that filing.
You knew it before you proposed to me.
You knew it the entire time we were married.
You knew it when you were apologizing to me in private for the things your family said at dinner.
You knew it every single time."
A long silence.
"It wasn't about leverage," he said.
"Not at first.
I—" He stopped.
"I did love you.
I want you to know that."
"What I know," she said, "is that love and using someone are not mutually exclusive.
People do both at the same time constantly.
That doesn't make the using acceptable."
He said nothing.
"Your attorney will be contacted about Clara's custody arrangements," she said.
"That is the only matter I am willing to discuss with you going forward."
"Audrey—"
"Goodbye, Julian."
She ended the call.
She stood in her kitchen for a moment.
Then she went to the living room where Clara was in the small bouncy seat Diana had brought over, awake and looking at the ceiling with the focused expression of someone encountering ceilings for the first time.
Audrey sat on the floor beside her.
"He said he loved me," she told her daughter.
Clara blinked at the ceiling.
"I know," Audrey said.
"Me too."
---
That evening, her phone rang again.
A number she did not know.
She answered carefully.
"Is this Audrey Marsh?" A woman's voice.
Older.
Uncertain in a way that sounded unfamiliar to itself, as if uncertainty was not something this voice was accustomed to.
"Who is this?"
A pause.
"My name is Margaret Sousa," the woman said.
"Renata is my daughter."
Audrey went still.
"Mrs.
Sousa—"
"She told me what she did.
What she was part of." The woman's voice was tight.
"I wanted you to know — she didn't understand the full extent of it.
She thought she was doing a small thing.
A phone call.
She didn't know about you.
About what they did to you that night."
"Mrs.
Sousa, I appreciate—"
"I have something," the woman said.
"Something Renata kept.
She didn't give it to the investigators because she was frightened.
But I think you should have it."
Audrey looked at the window.
"What is it?" she asked.
"A recording," the woman said.
"From the night of the wedding.
From inside the catering office." A pause.
"Mrs.
Sterling — Eleanor — she made a phone call.
Before the investigators arrived.
Renata recorded it because she was frightened.
She didn't know what to do with it."
Audrey's hand tightened on the phone.
"Who did Eleanor call?"
The line was quiet for a moment.
"That's just it," Margaret Sousa said.
"It wasn't Voss.
It wasn't Julian.
It was someone I didn't recognize." Another pause.
"But she called him by name.
And she said — she said they needed to move the money.
That night.
Before morning."
Audrey stood up from the floor.
"Mrs.
Sousa," she said.
"I need you to call Diana Cruz.
May you like
Tonight.
Do you have something to write with?"
