Chapter 7 - THE LAWYER WHO CHANGED SIDES
Julian Cross requested a meeting.
Ethan did not want to see him.
Claire insisted.
“If he knows something, listen.”
Julian arrived carrying the same damaged folder from the airport.
“I represented Vanessa for eight months.”
Ethan’s stare was cold.
“You helped her take my daughter.”
“No.”
“You prepared the forms.”
“I prepared what she described as emergency planning documents.”
“You never called me.”
“I believed she had your consent.”
“Convenient.”
Julian accepted the accusation.
Then he opened the folder.
“Three weeks ago, I noticed your signatures didn’t match.”
Ethan looked down.
“Some are mine.”
“Some aren’t.”
Vanessa had mixed authentic signatures into forged documents.
Julian began investigating quietly.
That morning, he entered Vanessa’s office to retrieve the original files.
He found Claire’s passport inside a safe.
“I thought it was fake.”
Claire asked:
“Why?”
“Because you were dead.”
“So you brought it to the airport?”
“I confronted Vanessa by phone. She told me to bring everything and meet her there.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“Then she said something that made me realize I had become part of something much worse.”
“What?”
“She said, ‘Once Ava leaves, none of this matters.’”
Julian handed Ortiz a flash drive.
“What’s this?”
“Copies of every file Vanessa sent me.”
Among them was an email to Martin.
Subject:
BEFORE C RETURNS.
Claire stared.
The email was dated six days earlier.
C.
Claire.
Vanessa had known exactly when she was coming.
But how?
Claire had told almost no one.
Then she remembered.
Her passport application.
To return legally from Canada, Claire had applied for emergency identity verification at the U.S. consulate.
Someone had been monitoring her identity.
Ortiz checked the access logs.
The inquiry had been run through a private investigative firm.
Paid by Blue Harbor Consulting.
May you like
Martin again.
The net tightened.
