“Once he sees what we have, he’ll tell Julian to fold.”

I thought of the private ledger I had found in the safe.

The names, the dates, the offshore shell companies.

It was more than just proof of marital waste.

It was a roadmap of tax evasion and corporate fraud that would destroy Julian’s firm.

“Is the ledger enough?” I asked.

“It’s everything,” Lydia said.

“We are going to demand his entire equity stake in Blackwood Partners.”

“He will have to forfeit his shares to protect himself from criminal charges.”

The wind outside gusted, rattling the glass panes of the diner’s front door.

A man stepped out of the dark SUV.

He wore a yellow slicker and a baseball cap pulled low over his face.

He didn’t look at the diner as he crossed the street.

Instead, he walked toward the payphone booth at the corner, his head down against the rain.

“Lydia,” I whispered. “Someone just got out of the car.”

“The police are on their way, Elena,” she said.

“Just stay inside where there are people.”