Richard was breathing heavily, his chest heaving under his tailored suit.

I looked at Vanessa.

She had her hands over her face, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed.

She had known, or at least she had suspected, and she had chosen to protect her lifestyle anyway.

She had helped them frame me to keep her own world from falling apart.

“Ms. Bennett,” Miller said, drawing the focus back to the front of the room.

“Did you have any knowledge of these transactions before you discovered the journals?”

“No,” I said. “I was the senior accountant, but my access was restricted to the public-facing accounts.”

“When I started noticing discrepancies in the audit trail, I was locked out of the system.”

“Shortly after that, the frame-up began.”

“And who orchestrated that frame-up?” Miller asked.

“Ethan Cole,” I said.

“He used my digital credentials to transfer two hundred thousand dollars into a personal account in my name.”

“He then tipped off the state police.”

“But he made a mistake.”

“The transfers were initiated from an IP address assigned to his private residence while I was attending a charity gala in full view of fifty witnesses.”