Chapter 3 - Fifty Thousand Dollars and a Lie
The first accusation arrived before breakfast.
Hadley’s attorney sent a letter to Ellison Logistics alleging that Catherine had solicited money in exchange for confidential information, then threatened to fabricate a bribery story when Hadley refused.
Jake read the letter standing in his kitchen.
He felt something old and ugly move through him.
Ten years earlier, every explanation had become another reason to suspect someone.
He looked toward the empty place where Catherine usually left her cleaning supplies.
Then he called Nora.
“You have it?”
“Yes.”
“The footage shows him putting money on the desk.”
“It does.”
“And taking it away.”
“Yes.”
“So why send this?”
“To create competing accounts. To make her look unreliable. To discourage us from reporting what happened.”
Jake read the letter again.
Hadley claimed Catherine had contacted him first.
There was a screenshot.
A message offering access.
A number at the top.
Catherine’s number.
Jake stared.
Nora heard the silence.
“Don’t do it.”
“Do what?”
“Let a screenshot replace everything you know.”
He exhaled.
“I wasn’t.”
“You were about to.”
She was right.
That irritated him almost as much as the letter.
Catherine’s attorney, Adrian Bell, arranged an independent review of her phone with her consent. The alleged conversation did not appear on the device.
That alone did not settle the matter.
But the screenshot contained inconsistencies. The formatting did not match the messaging platform it purported to show. More importantly, Hadley’s letter supplied no underlying records supporting it.
Adrian requested preservation of those records.
Catherine read the accusation at his office.
She did not cry.
She looked tired.
“So now refusing him means I asked him?”
“That appears to be the story his lawyer has been instructed to advance,” Adrian said.
“Does Mr. Ellison believe it?”
Adrian did not answer for Jake.
“I suggest you ask him.”
She did.
Jake came to the office that afternoon at her request.
No entourage.
No gift.
He sat opposite her and waited.
“Did you believe the letter?”
“For a few seconds,” he said.
Her face became still.
He made himself continue.
“Not because it made sense. Because suspicion is a habit I’ve spent ten years practicing.”
Catherine looked out the window.
“That’s honest.”
“It isn’t flattering.”
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“I looked at the footage again. I read your notes. I remembered you called me before knowing I had seen anything.”
She turned back.
“And?”
“And I should have started there.”
She studied him.
“You don’t have to believe every word I say because I work for you.”
“I know.”
“But I won’t keep proving I’m innocent every time a richer man says something different.”
Jake nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Adrian cleared his throat.
“We also need to discuss work arrangements.”
Catherine’s regular schedule involved entering an isolated property alone. Until the security concerns were addressed, Jake wanted her away from the house.
She initially heard dismissal.
He saw it happen.
“No,” he said quickly. “This isn’t about replacing you. The disruption came through my business. Your scheduled pay continues while we make the workplace safe.”
Adrian reviewed the proposed arrangement.
Catherine agreed after adding one condition: any return to work would be discussed with her.
Jake accepted.
That evening, he met Owen in the company conference room.
Nora attended.
So did the head of information security.
Owen looked puzzled.
“What’s going on?”
Jake placed a printout of the gate log on the table.
“Why did you issue a visitor code for my house?”
Owen glanced at it.
“Oh. That. Hadley said you two had arranged a conversation.”
Jake stared at him.
“Hadley called you?”
“He couldn’t reach you.”
“And you believed him?”
“He mentioned the Charlotte meeting. Said it concerned something personal. I assumed you’d kept it quiet.”
“Did you call me to check?”
Owen spread his hands.
“Apparently I should have.”
Nora spoke.
“Why did you ask Catherine whether she’d be alone?”
“I wanted to make sure someone could receive the visitor.”
The answer was smooth.
Plausible enough to leave room for doubt.
Then the security chief turned his laptop.
“We also need to discuss this file transfer.”
Owen stopped moving.
On the screen was a record of a spreadsheet exported from the bid development folder.
Destination: an outside account.
Timestamp: two nights before Hadley’s visit.
Jake looked at his oldest friend.
Owen looked at Nora.
“I think,” he said slowly, “I need my own attorney.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Jake remembered the cash on his desk.
The silent camera.
May you like
Catherine refusing to touch what did not belong to her.
And he understood that the wrong person had spent years earning his trust.
