The quiet housewife who had quietly endured her insults for a decade was gone.

“Get out of my office, Gloria,” I said. “I have work to do.”

She stood frozen for a moment, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

Then, without another word, she snatched her handbag off the chair, spun on her heel, and rushed out of the room.

The office door slammed shut behind her, the glass rattling in its frame.

I sat in the silence of my office for several long minutes, listening to the distant hum of the freeway.

Then, I reached for my desk phone and dialed Sterling’s direct line.

He answered on the first ring.

“Yes, Jocelyn?”

“Gloria just left,” I said. “The seed has been planted.”

“Excellent,” Sterling said. “I assume she will be calling Graham immediately.”

“Undoubtedly,” I said. “Which means he is going to panic. What is his current financial status with the logistics company?”

Sterling paused, the sound of paper rustling over the line.

“Our sources inside his firm confirm he is completely out of cash reserves,” Sterling said. “The payroll tax penalties have cleared out his remaining accounts. He is desperate.”