CHAPTER 7: The Man Behind the Shelves
Daniel pulled Eleanor behind a steel storage cabinet.
The footsteps moved closer.
A shadow passed across the dusty floor.
Then a woman stepped into view with both hands raised.
“Please don’t call security.”
Daniel recognized her.
Lydia Kane had been Malcolm Sterling’s executive assistant for almost fifteen years.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
Lydia’s face was streaked with tears.
“The same thing you are. Looking for proof.”
She carried a leather folder against her chest.
Inside were copies of emails, private invoices, and records of payments from shell companies controlled by the Wynn family.
Malcolm had approved every transaction.
“Why bring this to us now?” Eleanor asked.
“Because he knows you found the warehouse.”
Lydia revealed that Malcolm had installed tracking software on Reed International’s internal security system. He had received an alert the moment Daniel requested access to the abandoned property.
“He’ll destroy whatever is left,” Lydia warned.
“Why did you help him?” Daniel asked.
Lydia looked down.
“Because he threatened my son.”
Her son, Evan, had struggled with gambling debts years earlier. Malcolm quietly paid them, then kept the records.
Whenever Lydia considered leaving, he reminded her that one phone call could send Evan to prison for financial fraud.
Daniel studied her carefully.
“You had access to my office.”
Lydia nodded.
“I delivered Victoria’s photograph.”
Victoria had contacted her through an attorney. She knew Lydia had begun collecting evidence and believed Daniel would only investigate if the warning came from someone he hated.
Eleanor looked toward the cassette player.
“Did Malcolm erase the recording?”
“I don’t know.”
Lydia opened the final section of the folder.
It contained a copy of Thomas Mercer’s real medical report.
He had arrived at the hospital conscious.
His condition had stabilized.
Three hours later, Malcolm Sterling signed an authorization transferring him to a private facility.
Thomas died during transport.
The driver’s name had been removed.
Daniel’s hands tightened around the document.
“He arranged my father’s death.”
“We can’t prove that yet,” Lydia said.
A loud crash came from the warehouse entrance.
Smoke began pouring beneath the doors.
Someone had set fire to the front office.
Daniel grabbed the cassette and the folder while Eleanor called emergency services.
They moved toward the rear exit, but the metal door had been chained from the outside.
Flames climbed the nearest wall.
Through the smoke, Daniel saw a figure watching them from behind the warehouse windows.
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Malcolm Sterling had not come to recover the evidence.
He had come to make certain no witnesses left with it.
