Chapter 8 - The Employee Who Disappeared
Jules arrived before dawn with a document examiner.
By 5:30, the preliminary comparison was brutal.
"High probability of simulation," the examiner said. "Someone copied visual features without natural writing rhythm."
Antoine sat down hard.
Charlotte had stopped arguing.
Amina watched her.
"What aren't you telling us?"
Charlotte looked exhausted now.
"You think I know every dirty thing my father did before I was born?"
"No. I think you knew enough to move boxes at midnight."
Charlotte looked away.
Nora spoke quietly.
"There was another employee who asked questions."
Marc frowned. "Who?"
"Sophie Renard. Archive assistant."
Antoine looked up. "She resigned last year."
"No," Nora said. "She was fired."
Amina asked, "For what?"
"She found two inventory books that didn't match. Then one day security walked her out."
"Where is she now?"
Nora swallowed.
"Nobody knows."
Marc checked the HR system.
Sophie Renard's file was gone.
Not inactive.
Gone.
Amina's phone rang from a blocked number.
She answered.
A woman whispered, "Don't say my name."
Amina straightened.
"Sophie?"
A breath.
"You opened the historical accounts."
"How do you know?"
"Because Bernard called the same people he called when I found them."
Amina looked around the room.
"Where are you?"
"Safe enough. Listen to me. Bellecour isn't where the money ends. It's where they wash the paperwork."
"Where does it end?"
The woman's breathing shook.
"At a company called Saint-Laurent Heritage."
Antoine went pale.
Amina noticed immediately.
"You know it."
He nodded once.
"It's my family's private holding company."
May you like
Sophie whispered one final sentence before the call died.
"Then ask Antoine why his signature is on every transfer.
