Chapter 15 - Wynn's Offer
Wynn called Sofia directly.
"You married well," he said.
"You hired badly. Salazar is talking."
"Salazar talks when scared. Courts prefer evidence."
"We have evidence."
"Some."
His confidence told her something.
He believed one piece still mattered more than the rest.
"What do you want?"
"The original Elena Reyes files."
Sofia looked at Mateo.
He shook his head.
They did not have any separate Elena files.
Wynn continued, "Your mother copied more than loan records. She recorded a meeting. Rafael hid it before she died."
Sofia's pulse quickened.
"Where?"
Wynn laughed. "If I knew, we wouldn't be talking."
He offered a trade: the location of a witness who could authenticate the entire conspiracy in exchange for Elena's recording.
"Who is the witness?"
"Detective Paul Mercer. The officer Mateo thought was dirty."
Mateo went pale.
After the call, he said, "Mercer wasn't dirty?"
Ethan understood first.
"Wynn framed him."
They visited Rafael under guard.
Sofia asked about Elena's recording.
His eyes filled.
"She put it somewhere I would never look."
"Where?"
"Inside our wedding album."
Sofia almost laughed at the cruelty of it.
The album was still in the family home.
Inside the hollowed back cover they found a tiny cassette recorder.
Elena's voice came first.
Then Salazar.
Then Wynn.
And finally Rafael.
Sofia listened as her father agreed to keep laundering money in exchange for Salazar leaving his children alone.
But the last voice on the tape was one none of them expected.
A woman said, "If Rafael folds, use the daughter."
Ethan stopped the tape.
"I know that voice."
Sofia looked at him.
May you like
"Who?"
"My mother.
