“They have a warrant,” Margaret whispered, her lower lip trembling.

“A warrant for Daniel’s personal files and the business computer servers.”

Richard slowly let his hand fall away from the ringing desk phone.

The ringing suddenly stopped, leaving only the sound of the rain and Margaret’s shallow breathing.

“Did you hear me, Richard?” she urged, taking a step into the study.

“They are in the foyer right now with two men in suits.”

“I heard you,” Richard said, his voice flat and dry.

He looked up at me, his eyes hollowed out by the shadows of the desk lamp.

“Is this your doing, Emily?” he asked.

“Daniel did this to himself,” I said, leaning my back against the heavy wooden doorframe.

“He thought he could use my inheritance to cover his losses and then discard me.”

“You went to the federal regulators,” Richard said, it was a statement, not a question.

“I went to the people who care about wire fraud and falsified bank drafts,” I replied.

Margaret gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.

“Fraud?” she looked between us, her face pale under the hallway lights.