Chapter 2 - The Silent Partner
Within twenty minutes, Daniel was in the library, pacing the Persian rug while Claire examined the charred note under a magnifying glass.
"She didn't do this alone," Daniel said, his brow furrowed as he looked at the security footage from the front door. The camera had been momentarily blinded by a high-intensity laser pointer just before the pouch was dropped. "Victoria is smart, but she’s been locked up for a year. She doesn't have the technical skills to bypass our optical sensors. Someone is bankrolling her."
"Who would benefit from putting Victoria back on the streets?" Claire asked, her fingers tracing the frame of her grandmother’s journal. "The rest of the family estate was liquidated to pay off the victims of her fraud. There’s no money left."
"No corporate money," Daniel corrected, stopping in front of her desk. "But what about Alastair Thorne?"
Claire felt a cold dread settle in her chest. Thorne was her mother’s former business partner—a shadowy billionaire who operated in the dark corners of the Pacific Northwest's real estate market. He had managed to distance himself from Victoria's crimes during the trial, claiming he was a victim of her deception.
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"Thorne wanted this brownstone," Claire whispered. "He wanted my grandmother’s journals. He believed she had hidden the deeds to the waterfront shipping yards—the land that Whitman Safeguard is currently inspecting for the historical preservation society."
"If Thorne has Victoria," Daniel said, his eyes darkening, "they don't just want to ruin your reputation. They want to finish what they started in the fire. We need to find out what’s in those journals that they are so terrified of."
