Chapter 33 - The Man Marcus Never Named
Rebecca Sloan answered Nick’s call at six thirty the next morning.
She had retired from full-time criminal defense work, but she still consulted on financial-fraud cases.
When Nick forwarded the email, she called back within four minutes.
“Do not respond.”
“We weren’t planning to.”
“Do not delete it either.”
“I know.”
“Nick, listen carefully. Marcus had two partners.”
“I remember.”
“One went to prison. One disappeared before indictment.”
I leaned closer.
“What was his name?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Leon Voss.”
I remembered hearing the name once during the original prosecution.
Barely.
Marcus had provided evidence against several people, but the public coverage focused mainly on him.
Rebecca continued.
“Voss designed much of the targeting infrastructure.”
“The profiles?” Nick asked.
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
Marcus had been the salesman.
Voss had been the architect.
“What happened to him?” Nora asked.
“Federal investigators believed he left the country.”
“Believed?”
“He used multiple identities. Multiple passports. Shell companies. After the first year, the trail went cold.”
Caleb stared at the email.
“And now someone who knows about Marcus is stealing from my company?”
Rebecca sighed.
“That does not prove Voss is involved.”
Nick leaned against the counter.
“No. But it proves someone wants us thinking about him.”
We contacted law enforcement.
Not the same agents.
Most had retired.
But the case records still existed.
By noon, Special Agent Dana Cho from the FBI’s cybercrime unit sat in Nora’s living room while baby Anna slept fifteen feet away.
Agent Cho was younger than Nora.
That made me feel approximately ancient.
She reviewed the phishing email, bank records, commercial loan application, and threatening message.
“Mr. Carter, we believe your identity was compromised months ago.”
Caleb looked sick.
“Through what?”
“Possibly a data breach. Possibly targeted social engineering.”
Nick asked, “Did they find Voss?”
Agent Cho looked at him.
“You know the name.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know we have never publicly confirmed his location.”
“Rebecca told us.”
Cho closed the folder.
“I cannot tell you whether he is connected.”
Nora crossed her arms.
“What can you tell us?”
“That whoever did this possesses detailed historical knowledge of the Hale investigation.”
“And?”
“And the message was intended to frighten your family.”
“Mission accomplished,” Caleb muttered.
That evening, Nick pulled the old black ledger from our closet.
I stared.
“Why?”
“I need to remember names.”
“Nick.”
“I’m not doing anything reckless.”
“That sentence historically has a poor survival rate in this family.”
He gave me a tired smile.
“Fair.”
We spread old documents across the dining table.
Federal notices.
Restitution records.
Copies of Marcus’s victim profile.
News clippings.
Most were decades old.
Then Nick stopped.
“What?”
He pointed to a handwritten notation in one photocopied document.
L.V.—TARGET MODELS / FAMILY LEVERAGE.
My stomach dropped.
“Voss?”
“Probably.”
Another document contained names of victims Marcus had pursued but never successfully recruited.
One name had a red circle around it.
David Carter.
Nora’s husband was Caleb Carter.
Coincidence.
Probably.
Except Caleb’s father was named David.
I called Nora.
“Ask Caleb whether his father ever knew Marcus Hale.”
Twenty minutes later, they arrived.
Caleb looked stunned.
“My dad remembers him.”
Nick went completely still.
“What?”
“He said Marcus approached him at a business conference thirty years ago.”
I sat down.
Caleb continued.
“My dad owned a construction supply company then. Marcus pitched some investment. Dad told him it sounded illegal and walked away.”
“Did Marcus know David had a son?” I asked.
“Probably. Dad brought me to work constantly.”
“How old were you?”
“Seven.”
Nora whispered, “So Caleb’s family was already in those files.”
Nick rubbed both hands over his face.
“This could still be coincidence.”
But none of us believed it anymore.
The next morning, Agent Cho confirmed something.
David Carter's name appeared in recovered Hale-Voss records.
He had been listed as a failed target.
Under his profile was one sentence.
SON MAY BECOME USEFUL LATER.
Nora read those words twice.
Then she carried baby Anna upstairs and locked the nursery door.
Caleb sat motionless.
“Thirty years.”
His voice sounded hollow.
“Some criminal wrote about me when I was seven years old.”
Nick looked devastated.
“This started with me.”
“No,” Caleb said.
Nick frowned.
“Marcus pulled me in.”
Caleb shook his head.
“You didn't create these people.”
The sentence landed.
Hard.
For decades, Nick had carried responsibility carefully.
Maybe too carefully.
There was a difference between accountability and ownership of evil.
I touched his hand.
Agent Cho called again.
“We found something else.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“The fraudulent loan application used an IP address associated with a hotel in Des Moines.”
Nick looked toward the window.
“When?”
“Six weeks ago.”
My skin went cold.
Whoever had done this wasn't hiding overseas.
May you like
They had been here.
And according to Agent Cho, the hotel sat less than two miles from our house.
