Chapter 7 - THE PRICE OF TELLING THE TRUTH
The memory card changed everything.
The messages showed Victor Voss directing Elliot Crane to steal the case. They also revealed that Victor had been paying a city official to delay investigations into several businesses connected to Ravi's legitimate holdings.
There were references to a second ledger, one that Victor kept in a private office.
The investigators wanted it.
Ravi wanted it too, but for different reasons. He wanted the truth exposed before Victor could use the stolen records to threaten more people.
Catherine agreed to cooperate.
Her father responded by cutting off her bank accounts and issuing a statement that she had been struggling with personal problems. The statement called her unreliable.
Catherine read it in Ravi's conference room and laughed without humor.
“He's already trying to make me disappear.”
Ravi stood across from her. “You're not going to disappear. You'll give your statement, and the investigators will decide what happens next.”
“My father knows people.”
“So do I.”
Diane, seated near the window, looked up. “That's not reassuring.”
Ravi glanced at her. “It wasn't meant to be.”
Catherine looked between them. “Are you two together?”
“No,” Diane said immediately.
Ravi said nothing.
Catherine gave a tired smile. “Interesting.”
“Don't,” Diane warned.
Catherine lowered her eyes. “I'm sorry.”
It was the third apology she had offered. This one sounded less like a performance.
***
The next evening, Diane received a call from Sadi's school.
A man had come to the office claiming to be a family friend. He had asked whether Diane usually collected her sister at four or five.
The school had refused to give him the information.
Diane felt the room tilt.
She called Marcus.
Then Ravi.
He arrived at the school before she did.
Sadi was sitting in the principal's office with her backpack in her lap. When she saw Diane, she ran into her arms.
“Someone asked about you.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
“Was it the bad people?”
Diane hugged her. “We're going to be careful.”
Ravi stood near the doorway, speaking quietly with the principal.
Sadi looked at him. “Are you going to take us somewhere?”
“Only if your sister agrees.”
Diane turned toward him. “I don't want to move.”
“I understand.”
“But I don't want Sadi followed.”
“Neither do I.”
He crouched to Sadi's eye level.
“Would you feel safer if someone you know walked with you from school for a little while?”
Sadi thought about it. “Can Mrs. Alvarez do it?”
“If she agrees,” Ravi said.
Sadi nodded.
Diane looked at him. “Thank you for asking her.”
He stood. “She's the one who has to live with the arrangement.”
That evening, the school changed its pickup password and added two authorized adults. Ravi's security team watched the street from a distance, but they did not approach Sadi.
Diane was grateful.
She was also frightened by how quickly Ravi had become part of the decisions she made for her sister.
***
Two days later, Victor Voss was arrested after investigators found the original ledger in his office safe.
Catherine gave a formal statement. Elliot Crane was located at a motel outside the city and taken into custody.
The news spread quickly.
Reporters gathered outside the courthouse. They asked whether Ravi Greedy had helped expose a corrupt official or whether he had simply removed a rival.
Ravi refused to comment.
Diane watched the news from her apartment.
Sadi sat beside her, drawing a picture.
“Is the man on TV the one who wanted to hurt us?”
“Yes.”
“Is he going to jail?”
“I hope so.”
Sadi looked at the screen. “Then can we stop being scared?”
Diane pulled her close. “We're going to try.”
Her phone vibrated.
A message from Ravi.
The men who came to the school have been identified. They were working for Victor. They will not be approaching you again.
Diane read it twice.
Then another message arrived.
You and Sadi deserve a quiet week. I will stay away unless you ask me to come.
She looked at the screen for a long time.
For once, the message did not sound like an order.
It sounded like a choice.
She typed back:
Thank you. We need some quiet.
May you like
His reply came a minute later.
You have it.
