Chapter 8 - The Price of Silence
Elena refused to let Jamie leave alone. Owen arranged for a trusted guard to take him to a colleague's apartment, while Davis called the hotel's attorney and requested emergency preservation of every electronic record. Elena went to Pier 19 with Owen, but stayed in the car until she could see the warehouse entrance.
“You've been moving money out of my hotel. Start explaining.”
“I didn't steal anything. Victoria said the transfers were temporary. She said the board had approved them.”
Paul rubbed his face. “She has people on the board. She said if I questioned her, she'd make sure I was blamed for everything. I have a family.”
“So do the people whose wages were cut. So do the women who needed Harbor House.”
“I know.” His voice cracked. “I know what we did.”
He handed her a small flash drive. “These are payment records. Not everything, but enough to show the money went to Northstar and then to a company called Sloane Urban.”
“Why is a real-estate company receiving hotel charity funds?”
“Because they want to buy the building. Victoria promised them control before the estate transfer was finished. She said the new owner would never know what happened.”
Owen called the police. Paul refused an ambulance, insisting he had to disappear before Victoria found him. Elena told him the evidence would be useless if he vanished.
“I'll call your lawyer,” she said. “You can cooperate without handing your life over to her.”
Paul looked at the flash drive in her hand. “There's one file you need to find. Your father recorded it before he died. Victoria was there when he made it.”
May you like
Paul swallowed. “That he knew who was stealing from him.” He leaned closer.
“And he said the next person who tried to open the old archive would be in danger.”
