The Cost of Silence and the Fall of Hayes Development
I unzipped the pouch under the edge of the table, shielding it from the rest of the room.
Inside was a small hard drive, three black debit cards, and a ledger written in Victor’s tight, cramped handwriting.
I flipped to the first page of the ledger.
He had forged my signature on authorization forms to transfer funds from our joint investment account to a bank in Panama.
“Have you shown this to anyone else?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“No,” she said. “I was too afraid.”
“You did the right thing by calling me,” I said, closing the zipper.
“Will you tell the prosecutor that I helped you?” she asked, her voice cracking.
“I will tell Evelyn Price,” I said. “She will handle the authorities.”
I stood up to leave.
Brooke reached out and touched my sleeve, her fingers trembling.
“I did not know he was stealing from you from the very beginning,” she said.
I looked down at her hand until she let go.
“He was stealing from everyone, Brooke,” I said.
I left the café and walked three blocks to the Pacific National Bank on First Avenue.