“Are you in a secure place?” Benjamin’s voice sounded thin and urgent over the speaker.

“Yes,” Jonathan said. “We’re at the studio. What is it?”

“I’ve been going through the transaction logs from the Cayman accounts,” Benjamin said, the sound of rustling paper audible in the background.

“Did you find the payments to the investigators?” Jonathan asked.

“Yes, but it’s much larger than that,” Benjamin said. “The funds aren’t coming from the Vance corporate treasury.”

I moved closer to the table, my eyes fixed on the glowing phone screen.

“Where are they coming from, Benjamin?” I asked.

“They are originating from the Sterling Family Trust,” Benjamin said. “Specifically, the accounts tied to Rebecca’s children’s charity.”

Jonathan stood up from the stool, his posture instantly straightening.

“The Hope Initiative?” Jonathan asked. “That’s a registered non-profit. The audits are public.”

“The public audits are clean,” Benjamin said. “But I found a secondary set of books hidden in the digital backup files we recovered from the corporate server last week.”

I heard Benjamin take a deep breath on the other end of the line.