Chapter 8 - The Interrogation Room
The harsh fluorescent lighting of the precinct interrogation room hummed a monotonous tune. Across the cold stainless-steel table sat Sarah, her champagne-colored bridesmaid gown stained with engine grease and dust, looking a far cry from the pristine maid of honor she had been just hours earlier.
Daniel stood on the other side of the two-way mirror, watching alongside Detective Miller, a veteran investigator with tired eyes and a rumpled trench coat.
"She's not talking," Detective Miller grunted, sipping a lukewarm cup of black coffee from a styrofoam cup. "Her lawyer invoked every clause in the book. But the digital forensics team pulled the metadata from that ruggedized laptop. We found a secondary communication channel routing messages directly to an overseas IP address."
Daniel kept his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze fixed on Sarah’s unmoving silhouette. "An IP address belonging to whom?"
"That's the interesting part," Detective Miller said, pulling a manila folder from beneath his arm and flipping it open. "It doesn't trace back to Sarah's brother, and it doesn't trace back to Elena. The routing server belongs to a shell corporation registered under a very familiar name."
Daniel frowned, turning his head to look at the detective. "Whose name?"
"Your late business partner’s estate," Miller said quietly. "Specifically, your former partner’s younger brother, Julian Vance."
Daniel felt the air leave his lungs as if he had been struck in the stomach with a lead pipe. "Julian? That's impossible. My brother died in a climbing accident five years ago."
"His body was recovered, yes," Miller nodded solemnly. "But the legal trust fund managing his multi-million-dollar estate was never fully liquidated. In fact, three months after his funeral, a silent partner began quietly buying up distressed debt on your company’s supply chain."
Daniel slammed his palm against the wooden ledge of the observation window. "He orchestrated the entire thing. Elena wasn't just a gold digger; she was a planted operative working for my own flesh and blood—or someone using his legacy to destroy me."
Detective Miller looked down at the case files, his expression grave. "It goes deeper than that, Daniel. We checked the security footage from the chapel entrance right after you left with Sophie."
Daniel leaned in closer. "What happened?"
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"Elena didn't wait for a cab," Miller said slowly. "She got into a black sedan registered to an address tied directly to Julian Vance's old estate—and she took the original marriage certificate with her."
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