Chapter 2: The Ghost in the Accounts
The interrogation room at the precinct was cold, smelling of stale coffee and damp wool. Daniel sat under the harsh fluorescent lights, his expensive tailored suit looking wrinkled and pathetic. Across from him, Detective Miller threw the thick file folder onto the steel table.
"I didn't push her," Daniel said for the twentieth time, his voice hoarse. "It was an accident. She slipped on the wet floor."
"We have forty-two eyewitnesses and twelve phone videos that say otherwise, Mr. Pierce. But that’s a aggravated domestic assault charge for the DA to handle," Miller said, leaning forward. "I'm here about the sirens. Do you really think an ambulance warrants three unmarked police cruisers blocking the block?"
Daniel blinked. "What do you mean?"
Miller opened the file, sliding a stack of financial statements across the table. They were the exact same transfers Harper had confronted him about at the restaurant.
The Shell Companies: Three entities registered in Delaware, moving millions out of Pierce Real Estate.
The Directives: Forged signatures authorizing loans against Daniel's flagship properties.
The Destination: A private offshore account belonging to a pharmaceutical distributor in Switzerland.
"Your wife thought you were hiding money to prepare for a divorce," Miller said quietly. "She was wrong. You didn't authorize these transfers, did you, Daniel?"
Daniel stared at the documents. His stomach plummeted into a bottomless void. "I... I gave Vanessa power of attorney over the secondary corporate accounts last year. She said it was for tax sheltering. I didn't look at the micro-transactions."
"Vanessa Cole didn't shelter your money, Mr. Pierce. She used it," Miller said, his face hardening. "She used your funds to buy unapproved, experimental compounds from Europe. And do you know who she had them shipped to?"
May you like
The room felt entirely devoid of oxygen. "Who?" Daniel whispered.
"Dr. Elizabeth Vance," the detective revealed. "Your wife’s primary obstetrician. The one who has been managing her high-risk pregnancy for the last six months."
