Chapter 10 - The Man Inside Carter Group
By noon, Daniel’s company was under scrutiny.
He voluntarily turned over five years of financial records.
He gave investigators access to his email archives.
His corporate accounts.
Vendor systems.
Insurance settlements.
Rachel advised him to say less.
Daniel refused to hide anything.
If someone had used his name, he wanted the truth faster than he wanted comfort.
Marcus Hill helped investigators.
At least at first.
Then Daniel noticed something.
Marcus knew exactly where every old file was located.
Except one.
The original North Crest vendor approval.
“Where is it?”
Marcus searched again.
“It should be here.”
“But it isn’t.”
“No.”
“Who approved North Crest?”
Marcus hesitated.
Daniel saw it.
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“The system lists your authorization.”
“I didn’t approve them.”
“It has your digital signature.”
“Show me.”
The record appeared.
Daniel Carter.
Electronic authorization.
Five years earlier.
11:42 p.m.
Daniel knew exactly where he had been that night.
Rebecca was in the hospital receiving her first major round of treatment.
Daniel had not been at the office.
He had barely touched his laptop.
“Who had access to my credentials?”
Marcus looked uncomfortable.
“Executive administration.”
“IT.”
“You.”
“And?”
Marcus said nothing.
Daniel stared at him.
“And you.”
The room became silent.
Marcus slowly sat down.
“Daniel.”
“Did you authorize North Crest?”
“No.”
“Did you use my credentials?”
“No.”
“Then why are you suddenly pale?”
Marcus looked toward the closed conference-room door.
“Because there’s something I never told you.”
Daniel’s anger rose.
“What?”
“The night Rebecca went into the hospital, she called me.”
Daniel went still.
“She asked me about North Crest.”
“Why?”
“She had a name.”
“Grant Mercer.”
“She wanted to know whether he worked for us.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That I didn’t know.”
“But I checked.”
Marcus rubbed his hands together.
“I found Wade’s subcontractor records.”
“I found three inflated invoices.”
“I thought it was vendor fraud.”
“So I froze a payment.”
“What happened?”
“The next morning I got an email from your account telling me to release it.”
Daniel stared.
“I did not send that email.”
“I know that now.”
“Why didn’t you know then?”
“Because it came from your account.”
“Your signature was on the authorization.”
“And your wife was sick.”
“I assumed you wanted the problem gone.”
Daniel leaned against the table.
Someone had been inside Carter Group’s system.
Someone who could impersonate him.
“Did Rebecca know?”
“I told her the payment was released.”
“She said, ‘Then they’re already inside.’”
Daniel’s blood turned cold.
“What does that mean?”
“I asked.”
“She wouldn’t explain.”
Marcus looked sick.
“Three weeks later, she stopped volunteering.”
“Two months later, her treatment became more intensive.”
“I never brought it up again.”
Daniel wanted to be angry.
But he remembered himself during Rebecca’s illness.
He had existed from appointment to appointment.
Test to test.
Hope to disappointment.
People had protected him from business problems because they thought they were helping.
“Who ran IT security then?”
Marcus answered.
“Peter Voss.”
Daniel recognized the name.
Peter had left Carter Group three years earlier.
He now lived in Arizona.
Ruiz contacted him.
Peter denied everything.
Until investigators showed him logs.
Then Peter admitted an outside vendor had occasionally accessed Daniel’s executive account during a system migration.
The vendor?
Cobalt Claims Consulting.
The same company connected to Grant.
Daniel felt the puzzle closing.
Grant’s scheme had reached inside Carter Group.
Rebecca discovered pieces through Julia.
Someone used Daniel’s identity to move money.
Julia kept records.
Then Rebecca became ill.
Julia disappeared years later.
But one question remained.
Why now?
Why had Grant tolerated Maya for seven months if he believed she knew where the ledger was?
Ethan answered accidentally.
“She turned twelve.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What?”
“Maya’s birthday.”
“It was last month.”
“So?”
“She said her mom told her she could open something when she turned twelve.”
Daniel stared.
“What something?”
“I don’t know.”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Ruiz was called.
They searched Julia’s historical records.
Bank safe-deposit boxes.
Law offices.
Storage agreements.
Nothing.
Then Rachel found a probate document.
Julia’s father had died six years earlier.
He left Maya a small trust.
The trustee instructions contained a sealed supplemental envelope.
To be released to Maya on her twelfth birthday.
The law firm handling the trust had sent notification letters.
One to Julia’s last known address.
218 Jefferson Street.
Grant would have seen it.
The sealed envelope had been collected from the law office three weeks earlier.
By Maya.
Security footage showed her arriving after school.
She opened it outside.
Then walked directly to the public library.
The same afternoon Ethan first noticed her printing a map.
Daniel finally understood.
Maya’s secret had begun before she ever trusted Ethan.
Julia had planned years ahead.
She had left instructions where Grant could not erase them.
The envelope had contained the treasure-game clues.
And one final instruction.
When Maya turned twelve, she was supposed to find Rebecca Carter.
Julia did not know Rebecca would be dead.
May you like
So Maya found the next Carter instead.
Ethan.
