Chapter 10 - A Vote Bought with Lies
By noon, a press release announced Vanessa Sterling as interim chair of the Sterling Foundation. The board called it a necessary step during an internal review. Adrian's name appeared once, buried in a sentence thanking him for service.
He read it in the parking lot without moving.
"They planned this," I said.
"I know."
"Your sister's attack was supposed to make you choose between defending her and defending me. Either way, you looked unstable."
"And the missing funds stay under her control."
I called my brother. Noah answered from Tessa's couch, eating cereal with the television muted.
"Are you coming home?" he asked.
"Soon."
"You always say soon when things get bad."
I sat on the curb. "Dad used to say that, didn't he?"
"Yeah," Noah whispered. "Then one day he didn't come back."
I told him the truth I could tell: that I had found Dad's voice, that the police were involved, and that I needed him to stay with Tessa until we knew who'd threatened him.
"Don't be brave for strangers," he said. "Be alive for me."
After the call, Adrian offered to send money to cover my lost job. I said no.
"It's not charity," he insisted. "My family caused this."
"Then testify. That's what you owe me."
He nodded.
Ortiz called with news from the tech lab. A copy of the security access log survived on an independent backup. The cameras at the gala had been disabled using credentials assigned to Elliot Price, but from a terminal in Vanessa's private suite.
"Can you prove it was her?" I asked.
"Not yet. And the terminal's been wiped."
The detective hesitated. "There's another problem. The bank alerted us that fifty thousand dollars landed in an account under your name at two in the morning. It came from a shell company connected to the foundation."
"I didn't open an account."
"We believe you. But somebody wants the public to think you took a payoff."
My phone buzzed with an unknown number. An audio file appeared.
May you like
I pressed play. Vanessa's voice filled the car.
"Pay her. If she won't leave quietly, we'll make her look bought."
