Chapter 9 - THE LEAK INSIDE THE TASK FORCE
The case stopped moving.
Not because we lacked evidence.
Because someone was warning Victor’s defense team.
Search-warrant plans leaked.
Witness interviews leaked.
Financial subpoenas leaked.
My role became an easy target.
Victor’s attorneys accused me publicly.
“She is emotionally compromised.”
“She has abused federal resources to pursue personal revenge.”
The accusation triggered an internal review.
I was removed from all case access pending evaluation.
I understood.
I hated it.
Mark Ellis called me into his office.
“Claire.”
“I didn’t leak anything.”
“I know.”
“You can’t know.”
“I know your access logs.”
He lowered his voice.
“You weren’t even in the system for two of the leaked requests.”
That meant someone else.
Someone with task-force access.
Detective Reed.
Daniel Cole.
A prosecutor.
An analyst.
Too many possibilities.
I went home.
For the first time since Elena died, there was nothing I could do officially.
My mother was staying with me.
She found me at the kitchen table.
“You look like Elena.”
I almost laughed.
“She was prettier.”
“She would slap you for saying that.”
Probably.
Mom sat down.
“What happens now?”
“I wait.”
“You’re bad at that.”
“Elena said the same thing.”
My mother disappeared into her bedroom.
Returned carrying a small cardboard box.
“What’s that?”
“Things from Elena’s hospital stay.”
My heart tightened.
“Why do you have them?”
“She left them at my house.”
Inside were sympathy cards.
Medical paperwork.
A pair of baby socks.
And the tiny yellow blanket Elena had photographed months earlier.
She’s going to know how loved she is.
I pressed it against my face.
It still smelled faintly like Elena’s laundry detergent.
Then something fell onto the table.
A key.
Tiny.
Brass.
Taped inside the blanket’s folded hem.
My mother stared.
“Was that always there?”
I shook my head.
Attached was a tag.
Pink thread.
One word.
WELLS.
Dr. Hannah Wells?
No.
The doctor had no reason for a key.
Then I remembered a photograph from Elena’s laptop.
A bank envelope.
Wells Fargo.
Safe-deposit key.
Elena had hidden it inside Sophie’s blanket.
She trusted that Victor would never touch the baby’s belongings.
He had not.
Because he could not stand looking at them.
The safe-deposit box was in Elena’s name.
My name listed as successor access upon proof of death.
Inside were three items.
A hard drive.
A sealed letter.
And a photograph.
The photograph showed Elena standing beside Daniel Cole.
My colleague.
My friend.
They were leaving a coffee shop.
Date stamp:
Two months before Elena died.
I stared at it.
Daniel had never told me he knew my sister.
The letter explained why.
Claire,
If you are reading this, I ran out of time.
I went to your office because I wanted to talk to you.
You were away.
Agent Cole met me instead.
I told him part of what I found.
He told me not to call you yet because he wanted to verify the financial trail first.
My chest tightened.
Daniel knew.
Before Sophie died.
Before Elena died.
He knew Victor was stealing money.
He knew Elena was afraid.
And he had never told me.
The hard drive contained encrypted files.
But the photograph alone changed everything.
Was Daniel protecting Elena?
Or had he been the leak?
I called Mark Ellis.
“I found something.”
“What?”
“Daniel knew Elena.”
Silence.
“How do you know?”
“Because Elena told me.”
I did not mention the drive.
Not yet.
Careful.
The next morning Daniel Cole failed to report for duty.
His apartment was empty.
His government phone was on the kitchen table.
May you like
And suddenly—
the man I had trusted most inside the investigation was missing.
