Chapter 12 - Julia's Last Recording
Julia's voice came through the speaker first.
Calm. Tired. Alive.
"You asked me to meet because you said you wanted out. So get out. Give me the ledgers and testify."
Sloane answered.
"You don't understand my father."
"I understand children are being turned into invoices."
A pause.
Then Sloane whispered, "If you go public, he will come after your family."
Graham closed his eyes.
Julia said, "Then help me stop him before he can."
The recording ended there.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Sloane had known Julia.
She had known exactly who Graham was when she met him after the funeral.
Their entire relationship had begun with a lie.
Ruiz leaned back. "This recording does not prove Sloane caused Julia's crash. It proves she knew Victor was dangerous."
Graham's phone buzzed with another unknown message.
This time it was an address.
Hawthorne Ridge.
Below it were six words.
COME BEFORE MY FATHER BURNS IT.
Ruiz said, "You're not going alone."
They drove north with two unmarked police vehicles.
Hawthorne Ridge sat behind iron gates on forty wooded acres, more luxury campus than treatment center.
Smoke rose behind the administration building.
An employee ran across the lawn shouting that the records room was on fire.
Graham saw a white figure near the side entrance.
Sloane.
Still wearing the wedding gown beneath a dark coat.
She held a black hard drive against her chest.
"Graham!"
He started toward her.
A black SUV burst from behind the building.
Sloane's face changed.
May you like
"That's him," she whispered.
The SUV accelerated straight toward them.
