Chapter 15 - The Price of Silence
"No," I told Pike.
He laughed. "You haven't heard the price."
"I heard enough when Iris begged to be let out."
"Vanessa paid me to keep your little friend quiet. Grant paid me to clear the service route. They each thought I worked for them."
"And who do you work for?"
"Myself."
He named a sum he wanted in exchange for his records, then suggested I could make a small fortune helping him blame Adrian for everything. He had the hotel access logs, private messages, and copies of the payments he'd taken from both sides. He'd been saving them as insurance.
"You're admitting you kidnapped a waitress," I said.
"I'm telling you your story won't matter unless somebody powerful buys it."
I ended the call. I wanted police handling this, not a reckless trap. I called the detective whose card Iris had given me and reported Pike's offer, his number, and his threat.
"Do not meet him," Detective Elena Brooks said. "Send us everything you've received."
I did.
Back at the hotel, Ruth finally agreed to give a formal statement. She told Brooks how Pike had used her daughter's school information to intimidate her. Mabel provided the maintenance-access records. Owen surrendered a forensic copy of his original video.
Every witness had seen a different piece. Together, they made it harder for anyone to pretend nothing happened.
Near midnight, Adrian's attorney called. A bank had flagged an attempted transfer from a foundation-linked account to a new company.
"How much?" I asked.
"Four point seven million dollars."
"Can they stop it?"
"The fraud team is reviewing it. They can't promise recovery."
Then Detective Brooks called again.
"Pike's phone is still active," she said. "And he's driving toward the building where the foundation's paper records are stored."
May you like
She paused.
"We think he's about to destroy the only originals we haven't found."
