Chapter 16 - The Old Photograph
The custody file broke something inside me.
Then it clarified everything.
I stopped searching for a version of Ryan that could be saved.
The man who rubbed my feet during pregnancy might have been real.
The man who forged my signature was also real.
The man who whispered to our baby at night was real.
So was the man who prepared to call me an unfit mother.
People did not become innocent simply because some of their tenderness had been genuine.
Samantha brought the file to me the next morning.
We reviewed every page.
Most of the photographs had been taken by Diane.
Some by Brooke.
One caught my attention.
Thanksgiving.
I was standing on the balcony holding a glass of sparkling water.
Ryan and Grant were visible through the window behind me.
Grant appeared to be handing Ryan an envelope.
I enlarged the image.
The envelope had a logo.
A law office.
Samantha recognized it.
“That’s not the attorney who drafted the custody petition.”
“Who is it?”
She searched.
The firm specialized in asset protection and offshore trusts.
My pulse quickened.
“Cayman Islands?”
“Yes.”
Grant’s January second flight.
We finally had a connection.
Detective Keller obtained records through investigators assisting with the financial case.
Grant had opened an offshore entity months earlier.
The account held approximately $640,000.
Money had arrived in irregular transfers.
Some from Ryan’s business.
Some from shell entities.
Some remained unidentified.
Then Ethan identified one.
A payment originating from a vendor used by Blackridge Cloud.
That terrified me.
“This has reached my company.”
Ethan nodded.
The vendor provided event marketing services.
My department approved contracts with them.
I had signed legitimate invoices.
Someone had inflated later invoices after my approval.
The vendor paid kickbacks to a shell company.
The shell company paid Grant.
Ryan had used my position to disguise theft inside my employer.
I felt physically sick.
If investigators had discovered this before I did, my career could have ended.
My reputation certainly would have.
Then Ethan smiled for the first time in days.
“They made a mistake.”
“What?”
“The vendor changed accounting systems last year.”
“They kept archived approval logs.”
The altered invoices were uploaded after my authorization.
Metadata showed exactly when.
And from which account.
Ryan’s.
That evidence did more than clear me.
It proved deliberate manipulation.
Samantha leaned back.
“So now we have forged loans, stolen credentials, fraudulent expense charges, falsified investment paperwork, and potentially vendor fraud.”
Ethan nodded.
Then my phone rang.
Detective Keller.
“We located Grant.”
“Where?”
“At the airport.”
My heartbeat jumped.
“He tried to leave?”
“Yes.”
“Cayman Islands?”
“No.”
“Where?”
She paused.
“He booked a last-minute flight to Mexico.”
“With Diane?”
“No.”
“Brooke?”
“No.”
“Ryan?”
“No.”
Grant had been traveling alone.
May you like
But inside his suitcase investigators found $92,000 in cash.
And a passport bearing someone else’s name.
