Chapter 15 - The Fire That Was Supposed to Erase Everything
By the time we reached the distribution center, smoke was rolling from a second-floor vent.
Fire crews were already inside.
Robert Klein had triggered the sprinkler system in most of the building—except the server room.
The same method Voss had used eighteen years earlier.
Some men never invent new crimes.
They repeat old ones and expect everyone else to forget.
Robert was arrested trying to leave through a loading dock wearing an employee jacket.
The server room suffered damage, but not enough.
Backups survived.
So did access logs.
Those logs showed Robert had been transferring internal documents to Voss for eleven years.
He had also authorized the fraudulent debt assignments using my credentials.
When Ortiz asked why, Robert gave the smallest answer possible.
“Money.”
He had received more than three million dollars over a decade.
Claire sat beside me as investigators reconstructed the final piece.
She had discovered suspicious vendor payments while reviewing tax documents for a charity event. The trail led from Vanessa’s restaurant to Robert, then toward Northline Asset Partners.
She confronted Vanessa because she believed Vanessa was another victim.
Instead, Vanessa panicked.
She called Voss.
And Claire disappeared the next night.
“I was trying to help her,” Claire whispered.
I squeezed her hand.
“I know.”
Then Ortiz came into the room with an expression I had learned to fear.
“We found Voss.”
“Where?”
“Not where. What.”
She placed a passport on the table.
Graham Voss had used an alias for years.
The passport carried a different surname.
The same surname as someone Claire and I both knew.
Soren.
Claire stared at it.
“My mother’s maiden name.”
Ortiz nodded.
I looked at Claire.
She looked like the floor had disappeared beneath her.
May you like
Because Graham Voss was not just my father’s former partner.
He was Claire’s uncle.
