Chapter 8 - THE SECOND FAMILY
The woman in the photograph was named Nicole Harris.
Maya stared at her face.
“No.”
Julia closed the ledger.
“I am sorry.”
Maya shook her head.
“Daniel would not.”
Her voice broke before she could finish.
She had already learned what Daniel would do.
The photograph showed him kissing Nicole outside an apartment building.
Another image showed him touching her stomach.
The date was three weeks earlier.
A handwritten note stated that Nicole believed Daniel was separated.
Maya wiped her face.
“Does she know who he is?”
“Probably not,” Julia said.
“That is how the family works.”
Detective Ruiz contacted Nicole through a secure channel.
She arrived at a protected office two hours later.
When she saw Maya, she stopped in the doorway.
“You are his wife.”
Maya nodded.
Nicole’s face drained of color.
“He told me you had been divorced for a year.”
“We ate breakfast together yesterday.”
Nicole placed one hand over her stomach.
“I did not know.”
“I believe you.”
Those three words seemed to hurt Maya more than anger would have.
Nicole sat down.
She had met Daniel at a legal conference.
He claimed he was helping investigate corruption in his family’s company.
He asked questions about sealed warrants and grand-jury procedures.
At first, Nicole believed he wanted to become a confidential source.
Then the relationship became personal.
He gained access to her apartment.
Her laptop.
Her work calendar.
The Caldwells had not only selected her because she was pregnant.
They had selected her because she could warn them about investigations.
“Has he ever used your computer?” Detective Ruiz asked.
Nicole nodded slowly.
“Last night.”
The room became still.
“What did he access?”
“I do not know.”
The district attorney’s technology team examined her account.
Someone had searched for sealed requests connected to Caldwell Holdings.
They also downloaded the names of cooperating witnesses.
Julia’s name was one of them.
So was mine.
The Caldwells knew exactly what the police were doing.
Worse, someone inside the legal system had approved the access.
The blue ledger’s list of corrupted officials was not history.
It was an active network.
Detective Ruiz looked at us.
“From this moment forward, information stays within a restricted team.”
Nicole stared at Maya.
“I am sorry.”
Maya’s shoulders trembled.
“You are not the person who promised me fourteen years.”
Nicole began crying.
Maya reached across the table.
For one strange moment, two women deceived by the same man held each other’s hands.
Daniel had expected jealousy to divide them.
Instead, the truth created an alliance.
Nicole provided access to messages Daniel had sent.
Most were affectionate.
Several were coded.
One message asked whether “the earthquake file” had reached the grand jury.
Another asked whether the warrant covered “the vineyard lower level.”
Daniel had known the basement would be searched.
That explained the call demanding the ledger.
Nicole also revealed that Daniel planned to leave the country the next evening.
A private jet was scheduled from Napa to Vancouver.
The passenger list included Daniel.
Eleanor.
Charles.
Adrian.
All four had been released or expected to post bail.
“They are going to run,” Maya said.
Detective Ruiz shook her head.
“They will try.”
The district attorney obtained emergency detention orders.
Officers returned to the Caldwell estate.
Charles and Eleanor were gone.
Daniel’s home was empty.
Adrian’s attorney claimed not to know his location.
A helicopter pilot reported transporting three passengers from the vineyard at dawn.
The flight landed at a private airfield near Sacramento.
Security footage showed Charles, Eleanor, and Daniel entering a black SUV.
Adrian was not with them.
My phone vibrated.
A photograph appeared from an unknown number.
It showed my father sitting in the garden of his rehabilitation center.
The image had been taken from behind a fence.
A message followed.
BRING THE LEDGER TO WAREHOUSE 8.
COME ALONE.
Maya read it.
“This is Adrian.”
I looked at the clock.
Warehouse 8 began its morning shift in less than three hours.
More than four hundred people were about to enter a building that could collapse.
The next message arrived.
May you like
YOU HAVE UNTIL 9:00.
THEN THE BUILDING COMES DOWN.
