Chapter Seven: The Woman in the Red Coat
Ethan’s arrest should have weakened the Montgomery family.
Instead, it made Charles Montgomery more dangerous.
From his private residence in Connecticut, Charles issued orders through attorneys and loyal executives.
Company servers were wiped.
Witnesses received threats.
Millions of dollars vanished from domestic accounts.
Federal agents believed Charles intended to flee the country.
But before they could arrest him, he disappeared.
His security team claimed he had gone to a medical appointment.
The clinic had no record of him.
A helicopter registered to a Montgomery subsidiary left Connecticut at dawn and landed near a private airfield in Maine.
By the time agents arrived, it was empty.
Charles had escaped.
Two nights later, a woman wearing a red coat entered Emily’s hospital room.
She was in her early thirties, with dark hair and nervous eyes.
Sarah tried to stop her, but the woman raised both hands.
“My name is Julia Hayes,” she said. “I have information about Charles Montgomery.”
Daniel searched her bag.
Nothing dangerous was inside.
Julia sat near the door.
She explained that she had been Charles’s private travel coordinator for five years.
“He didn’t go to Maine,” she said. “The helicopter was a distraction.”
“Where is he?” Daniel asked.
“In New York.”
Emily studied her.
“Why come to me?”
Julia glanced toward the hallway.
“Because he killed my brother.”
The room fell silent.
Her brother, Adam Hayes, had worked as an internal auditor at Montgomery Meridian.
Two years earlier, he discovered irregular payments involving Silver Crown.
He told Julia he planned to report them.
Three days later, his car went through a barrier on a mountain road.
Police ruled it an accident.
Julia never believed it.
“Last month, I found an email Adam scheduled before he died,” she said. “It contained documents and a message. He wrote that if anything happened to him, Charles was responsible.”
“Did you give it to the police?” Emily asked.
“I was afraid.”
“And now?”
“Charles called me yesterday.”
Julia removed a phone from her coat pocket.
“He knows federal agents are searching for him. He wants me to arrange travel documents under another name.”
Daniel asked, “Did he say where he was?”
“No. But he wants the documents delivered tomorrow night.”
“Where?”
“The Montgomery Foundation archive building in Queens.”
Emily knew the building.
It stored decades of financial records and donor files.
It also contained industrial shredders.
“He’s destroying evidence,” she said.
Julia nodded.
“He told me to bring the passport and wait outside. He said he would come alone.”
“He won’t,” Daniel said.
Federal agents prepared an operation.
Julia agreed to wear a wire.
Emily objected.
“Charles will suspect a trap.”
Julia looked at her.
“Then help me make him believe it isn’t one.”
The next evening, Julia arrived at the archive building carrying a sealed envelope.
Agents surrounded the area in unmarked vehicles.
Cameras watched every entrance.
At 10:14 p.m., the side door opened.
Charles Montgomery stepped outside.
He looked older than he had in public photographs.
His shoulders were bent.
His skin was pale.
But his eyes remained sharp.
“Did you bring it?” he asked.
Julia held up the envelope.
Charles approached.
Then he stopped.
“Open your coat.”
Julia froze.
Inside a command vehicle, Daniel whispered into his microphone.
“Stay calm.”
Charles stepped closer.
“Open it.”
Julia slowly pulled the coat apart.
The wire was hidden beneath her blouse.
Charles saw nothing.
May you like
He reached for the envelope.
Then the archive building erupted in flames behind him.
