Chapter 4 - THE SYSTEM WENT DARK
Grace swore under her breath.
'He triggered a remote wipe.'
Owen stared at me.
'I did nothing.'
'Your phone locked at the same second.'
'That proves nothing.'
I called outside counsel and an independent forensic team.
By eight-thirty, Owen was suspended from all systems and escorted from the property.
He left without arguing.
That frightened me more than shouting would have.
Grace recovered part of the server from a mirrored backup.
The payroll files were not gone.
But several vendor records had been altered.
One company appeared over and over: Northstar Employee Protection LLC.
It collected the so-called retention deductions.
The registered address was a mailbox in Schaumburg.
The listed manager was a woman named Denise Mercer.
Owen's sister.
'How much went there?' I asked.
Grace swallowed.
'Six point one million.'
June sat very still.
'Where did the other three million go?'
'I'm tracing it.'
I looked at June.
'How many workers know?'
'Know they're shorted? Most of them.'
'Know the company says they're paid more?'
She shook her head.
'They think the deductions are legal.'
'Why didn't anyone complain?'
June laughed without humor.
'To who? The agency that assigns our hours? The supervisor who can replace us by lunch?'
Then she told me about Maria Alvarez.
Maria had worked in one of my Gold Coast properties for four years.
Six months earlier, she questioned a deduction after her rent check bounced.
A week later, she was fired for 'client misconduct.'
June never believed it.
I asked Grace to pull Maria's file.
The termination form said she had screamed at a homeowner and broken a lamp.
The homeowner listed was me.
I had never met Maria.
At the bottom was an incident certification.
My name again.
This time the signature was fake.
June whispered, 'Can you find her?'
Grace searched.
Maria's employee emergency contact led to an apartment in Cicero.
The phone number was disconnected.
Then she found a final payroll note.
M. ALVAREZ - SEVERANCE PAID: $18,000.
June shook her head.
'Maria told me she left with nothing.'
I looked at the bank destination.
May you like
The severance had not gone to Maria.
It had gone to Northstar.
