Chapter 5 - The Trap is Sprung
By Monday morning, the trap was set.
I woke up at five o'clock, dressed in a sharp, crisp navy trousers suit, and made a fresh pot of coffee. Grant came downstairs at six, looking slightly surprised to see me fully dressed and composed.
"Early day?" he asked, pouring himself a mug.
"Huge day," I replied with a bright, tight smile. "The regional audit team is coming in at nine. I’m presenting the preliminary Q4 findings to the board."
Grant’s hand paused slightly as he lifted the mug to his lips. "Oh? Anything interesting in the reports?"
"Just the usual," I said smoothly, picking up my coat. "Some discrepancies in the cross-dock shipping files. Nothing I can't resolve today."
I saw the micro-tension return to Grant’s shoulders, but he quickly forced a smile. "Well, go get 'em, tiger. I'll take care of Owen today."
"Don't worry about Owen," I said, opening the front door. "My mother is arriving at eight to stay with him all day. I wanted to make sure you didn't have to miss your important meetings."
Before Grant could respond or object, I walked out to my car and drove away.
At eight-thirty AM, I met with two men in a private conference room on the fourth floor of the Federal Building in downtown Indianapolis.
Sitting across from me were Special Agent Richard Vance from the FBI Financial Crimes Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcus Cole.
For ninety minutes, I didn't speak as a grieving wife. I spoke as an expert forensic witness. I laid out sixty pages of bank ledgers, wire transfer routes, IP address logs, forged signature certificates, and finally, I placed Owen’s phone on the table and played the forty-two-second video.
When the video finished, the conference room was dead silent.
Special Agent Vance looked up from the screen, his face grim and tight. "Mrs. Hollis... your husband and Ms. Mercer haven't just committed corporate embezzlement. They’ve engaged in structured wire fraud, identity theft, and child endangerment."
"I know," I said, my voice steady and unyielding. "They were planning to collapse Apex Global at the end of this quarter and leave me holding the criminal liability while they fled the country."
"We can issue arrest warrants by noon," Attorney Cole said, pulling out a legal pad.
"No," I interjected firmly. "If you arrest them at their offices, they’ll shred the physical ledgers stored in Dana’s home office safe. Grant carries the primary hardware key for the Cayman accounts on his keyring. You need to catch them together, in that house, with the safe open."
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Agent Vance narrowed his eyes, studying me with newfound respect. "And how do you propose we do that, Mrs. Hollis?"
"Because," I smiled, a cold, sharp smile that held zero warmth, "I am going to send my husband a text message in twenty minutes telling him that the federal auditors have just flagged Apex Global, and that I'm coming home right now to check the physical files in Dana's house."
