“They never fully trust their clients, especially clients like Margaret Whitmore.”

I looked at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Margaret is erratic,” Richard said.

“She has a temper, and she makes enemies.”

“Vale would want protection.”

“He would keep duplicate records of everything, just in case Margaret ever tried to throw him under the bus.”

Nora looked up from her laptop, a slow smile spreading across her face.

“An insurance policy,” she said.

“Exactly,” Richard said.

“If Margaret has been doing anything illegal, Vale will have records of it.”

“We need to find those records,” Nora said. “But we have less than twelve hours.”

Richard picked up his phone and dialed a number.

“Marcus,” he said when the call connected.

“I need you and your team to focus entirely on Thomas Vale.”

“I want a complete forensic audit of his personal and professional accounts.”

“Look for duplicate files, private cloud storage, anything he might use as leverage against Margaret.”

“We need it before dawn.”

He listened for a moment, then hung up.

“Marcus is the best in the business,” Richard said to me.