Gregory Shaw sat in a hospital examination room with bruising around his left eye and adhesive strips closing a cut above his eyebrow.
Daniel stopped in the doorway.
Three years of buried anger rose inside him.
Gregory had managed Bellmont while Daniel grieved.
He had recommended Vanessa.
His name appeared throughout Anna’s files.
And now he sat beneath fluorescent lights looking less like a criminal mastermind than a man who had lost a fight badly.
Agent Ruiz had insisted Daniel remain silent during the first interview.
He agreed reluctantly.
Gregory looked at him.
“Daniel.”
Daniel said nothing.
Ruiz pulled out a chair.
“Mr. Shaw, tell us from the beginning.”
Gregory looked at Daniel again.
Ruiz snapped her fingers lightly.
“Me.”
Gregory turned.
“Yesterday morning I realized someone had accessed an old archive I maintained.”
“What archive?”
“Financial records.”
“Related to Northbridge?”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Ruiz said, “Why did you have them?”
“Because Anna asked me to track the payments.”
Daniel nearly spoke.
Richard placed a hand lightly against his arm.
Gregory continued.
“She believed someone was moving money through Bellmont vendors.”
Ruiz asked, “Were you helping her?”
“Yes.”
Daniel could no longer stay silent.
“That’s not what her files say.”
Ruiz looked at him.
He stopped.
Gregory stared.
“What files?”
“Answer Agent Ruiz.”
Gregory’s face tightened.
Ruiz continued.
“Did Anna suspect you?”
“Eventually.”
“Why?”
“Because someone made sure she would.”
Daniel stepped forward.
Ruiz allowed it this time.
Gregory looked at him.
“She found payments authorized under my office.”
“They were your payments.”
“No.”
“Vanessa worked for you.”
“She worked with me.”
“You told her corporate wouldn’t interfere.”
Gregory closed his eyes.
“You heard the recording.”
“Yes.”
“Then you heard only the part Anna captured.”
Daniel’s anger sharpened.
“Convenient.”
Gregory looked at Ruiz.
“Am I allowed to show him?”
“Show him what?”
Gregory pointed toward the evidence bag containing his wallet.
“There’s a key.”
Ruiz retrieved it.
Small brass key.
Number stamped into the head.
“What does it open?”
“A private document locker at Central Station.”
Ruiz frowned.
“You stored corporate evidence in a train-station locker?”
“I stored evidence where Bellmont security couldn’t reach it.”
Daniel thought of Anna’s flash drive.
Same instinct.
Different hiding place.
Ruiz sent Morris to retrieve the contents.
While they waited, she continued questioning.
“Tell us about Vanessa Cole.”
Gregory rubbed his bruised wrist.
“Her mother worked in trust administration.”
“We know.”
“Marianne discovered someone was restoring legacy accounts.”
Daniel looked at Richard.
That contradicted Samuel’s implication that Marianne’s credentials might have enabled the fraud.
“Did she report it?”
“To Samuel Voss.”
Daniel said, “Samuel told us her credentials were compromised.”
Gregory laughed bitterly.
“Of course he did.”
Ruiz leaned forward.
“You’re accusing Mr. Voss?”
“I’m telling you what happened.”
“Which is?”
“Samuel ran succession and trust controls after Harold died. He could activate legacy authority without triggering ordinary finance review.”
Daniel thought about FOUNDERS OFFICE.
“Why would he steal from Bellmont?”
Gregory looked at him.
“He wasn’t stealing for himself.”
“For whom?”
Gregory hesitated.
“I never found out.”
Daniel’s frustration surfaced.
“Everyone seems to know just enough to be useless.”
Gregory flinched.
Then said quietly, “Anna said the same thing.”
Hearing her name from him felt intolerable.
“Don’t talk about her like you were her friend.”
Gregory’s face changed.
“I was trying to keep her alive.”
“You lied to her.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You protected Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared.
Gregory added, “Because Vanessa was feeding us information.”
The room became silent.
“What?”
“She joined Bellmont House to monitor one of the payment channels.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“Her behavior toward guests was real. She became exactly the kind of manager you saw. I’m not defending that.”
“Then what are you defending?”
“The reason Anna first brought Vanessa inside.”
Daniel felt the floor shift beneath the story again.
“Anna recruited her?”
Gregory nodded.
“Through Marianne.”
Ruiz wrote quickly.
“When?”
“About four months before Anna died.”
Daniel remembered the photograph of Vanessa leaving the executive conference room.
Anna had seen her because Anna had arranged the meeting.
“Why would Anna hide that from me?”
Gregory looked at him.
“Because she stopped trusting everyone.”
Including Daniel.
The possibility hurt more than he expected.
Ruiz said, “What did Vanessa discover?”
“That Northbridge wasn’t just draining Bellmont.”
“What else?”
“It was moving money into trusts, shell companies, and political consulting groups.”
Daniel turned.
“Political groups?”
Gregory nodded.
“Local development campaigns. Zoning initiatives. Property acquisitions.”
Bellmont owned hotels and restaurants.
Changes in zoning could make properties worth millions.
Ruiz said, “This may extend beyond corporate fraud.”
“Yes.”
“Who benefited?”
“Developers. Investors. Maybe officials. We never got the full network.”
Daniel thought of Samuel’s decades-long position in the company.
Connections.
Boards.
Charities.
Banks.
City commissions.
A man like Samuel could move through rooms Daniel rarely entered.
But Anna’s note had warned that Gregory might only be the person she could see.
Daniel asked, “Why does her drive make you look guilty?”
“Because someone altered the material after she died.”
Richard said, “How?”
“Files were copied from her work laptop before it reached Daniel.”
Daniel looked sharply at him.
“What work laptop?”
Gregory froze.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Anna’s company laptop was destroyed in the crash.”
“No.”
The word was almost a whisper.
Daniel’s blood went cold.
“What do you mean, no?”
“It was removed from her car before police inventoried the vehicle.”
“By whom?”
Gregory stared at the floor.
“Bellmont security.”
Daniel felt rage rising.
“Who authorized that?”
“Samuel.”
Richard swore.
Ruiz said, “Evidence?”
Gregory nodded toward the absent locker key.
“In the locker.”
The interview paused until Morris returned.
Thirty-five minutes later, he entered carrying a sealed evidence container.
Inside were photocopies, storage devices, and printed emails.
One email came from Samuel Voss.
Subject: Mercer Vehicle Recovery.
The message instructed Bellmont security personnel to remove all company property from Anna’s vehicle before the insurance inspection.
Timestamp: ninety minutes after the crash.
Daniel read it three times.
“Was she dead when this was sent?”
Gregory looked at him.
“No.”
Daniel stopped.
Anna had survived the initial crash for nearly four hours.
Daniel remembered the hospital corridor.
Doctors moving quickly.
Claire crying.
Samuel holding Daniel’s shoulders and telling him to prepare himself.
At the same time, Samuel’s office had been collecting Anna’s laptop.
Ruiz asked, “Where is that laptop now?”
Gregory answered.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel stared at the email.
Samuel had never mentioned it.
Not once.
Gregory produced another document.
A handwritten note.
Anna’s writing.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
Sam says he can secure the laptop if anything happens. I’m not certain anymore that he should.
Daniel sat down.
Richard remained standing beside him.
Ruiz asked Gregory, “Why did you disappear?”
“I didn’t.”
“Explain.”
“Yesterday morning, two men came to my apartment.”
“Names?”
“I didn’t know them.”
“What happened?”
“They said Daniel wanted to see me.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
Gregory continued.
“I believed them because they knew about Bellmont House.”
“They took you?”
“They forced me into a van once we reached the garage.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. I was hooded.”
“How did you escape?”
“They stopped at the motel. One man left. The other went into the bathroom. I hit him with a lamp and ran.”
Ruiz looked skeptical.
“Convenient.”
Gregory laughed painfully.
“Apparently everyone is using that word today.”
“What did they want?”
“The location of Anna’s evidence.”
Daniel asked, “Which evidence?”
“They thought I had the flash drive.”
Daniel and Richard exchanged a look.
Gregory noticed.
“You found it.”
Daniel did not answer.
Gregory leaned back.
“Then Claire is in danger.”
Daniel’s hand moved toward his phone.
“Why?”
“Because Samuel knew Anna gave Claire something.”
Daniel immediately called the Westlake security team.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Richard tried the secondary contact.
Straight to voicemail.
Daniel stood.
Ruiz raised her hand.
“Do not drive there.”
“My daughter is there.”
“I know.”
“Then move.”
Ruiz was already calling tactical support.
Daniel called Claire.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
She answered.
Daniel nearly collapsed with relief.
“Claire.”
Her voice was quiet.
“Daniel?”
“Where’s Sophie?”
“Upstairs.”
“Are you okay?”
“I think so.”
“What happened to security?”
“They said there was a problem with the alarm at the gate. They went outside.”
“When?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
Daniel looked at Ruiz.
She was already moving.
“Lock the doors.”
“They are locked.”
“Take Sophie into the safe room.”
Claire’s breathing changed.
“Daniel, what’s happening?”
“Now.”
She did not argue.
He heard footsteps.
Then Sophie’s voice in the background.
“Aunt Claire?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Claire said, “We’re moving.”
A noise came through the phone.
Heavy.
Metallic.
Claire stopped breathing.
“What was that?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know.”
Another sound.
From downstairs.
Glass breaking.
Claire whispered, “Someone’s inside.”
Daniel’s entire body went cold.
“Safe room. Run.”
He heard movement.
Sophie cried out.
Claire shouted.
A door slammed.
Daniel gripped the phone so hard his fingers hurt.
“Claire.”
“I have her.”
“Lock it.”
A beep.
Then another.
Claire said, “Locked.”
Daniel turned to Ruiz.
“How long?”
“Teams are moving.”
He hated the answer even though no faster answer existed.
Claire whispered through the phone.
“Someone is in the hallway.”
Daniel heard footsteps faintly through her call.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Sophie began crying.
Claire tried to quiet her.
Daniel pressed the phone against his ear.
“Sweetheart.”
There was a pause.
Sophie’s small voice came through.
“Daddy?”
“I’m here.”
“Someone broke the window.”
“I know.”
“Are you coming?”
“Yes.”
He looked at Ruiz.
She did not correct him.
“Listen to Aunt Claire. Stay inside that room.”
“Okay.”
The footsteps stopped outside the safe room.
Daniel heard them through the phone.
Then a man spoke.
Muted by the reinforced door.
“Mr. Mercer only wants the drive.”
Claire covered the phone and whispered, “He knows we have it.”
Daniel’s gaze snapped to Gregory.
Only a few people knew where the flash drive had gone.
Gregory.
Richard.
Samuel.
Claire.
Federal investigators.
Daniel himself.
Someone had passed the information.
Or someone had been watching Westlake the entire time.
The man outside the room spoke again.
“Give us Anna’s drive and nobody gets hurt.”
Daniel felt something inside him become perfectly still.
This was no longer about discovering who had stolen money.
No longer about Vanessa humiliating customers.
No longer even about clearing his family’s name.
Someone had entered a house where his daughter was hiding behind a reinforced door.
Daniel looked at Ruiz.
“When your people get there, I want whoever is inside taken alive.”
Ruiz nodded once.
Daniel listened to the stranger outside the safe room.
Then another voice appeared faintly through Claire’s phone.
A second intruder.
“Forget the drive.”
The first man asked, “What?”
The second answered.
“We were told to take the girl.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Gregory went pale.
Richard whispered, “Daniel.”
But Daniel heard only Sophie crying behind the locked door and a stranger deciding whether to kidnap his daughter.
For three years, whoever controlled Bellmont’s hidden network had operated through forged records, quiet transfers, frightened employees, and the names of dead people.
Now they had finally stepped into the open.
And Daniel knew there would be no returning to the life he had been living before booth seventeen.
Click here to continue reading: PART 9: The Safe-Room Door Holds While Federal Agents Close In, but the Men Outside Sophie’s Hiding Place Leave Behind One Disturbing Clue
A Rain-Soaked Father Takes His Daughter to Dinner and Learns Why So Many Guests Have Been Complaining About Bellmont House
Part 8 of 44
