Chapter 5 - The Investigator
By morning, Marcus’s chief security officer had identified the photographer.
His name was Owen Pike.
Former police officer.
Private investigator.
Expensive.
Discreet.
And currently missing.
Marcus stood in a small security office inside the hospital while Samuel and Marcus’s head of corporate security, David Chen, reviewed the records.
David enlarged a financial document on the monitor.
“Owen Pike received twelve payments over six months.”
“From Isabella?”
Marcus asked.
David shook his head.
“From a consulting company called North Marrow Holdings.”
Samuel folded his arms.
“Who owns it?”
“That’s where it becomes interesting.”
David changed the screen.
“North Marrow is registered through two shell entities.”
Marcus leaned closer.
“Keep going.”
“The final beneficial ownership traces back to Rossi Strategic Group.”
Marcus gave a cold laugh.
“So Isabella paid him.”
“Partially.”
Marcus looked at David.
“What does partially mean?”
“The account received money from another source.”
David opened another file.
“Three transfers totaling four hundred eighty thousand dollars came from Halcyon Capital.”
Marcus went still.
Samuel noticed immediately.
“You know that name.”
Marcus did.
Halcyon Capital was controlled by Julian Mercer.
His oldest corporate rival.
A man Marcus had spent three years fighting over a renewable infrastructure deal worth nearly eight billion dollars.
Julian was intelligent.
Patient.
And ruthless enough to use personal weakness as leverage.
David continued.
“Pike wasn’t only photographing you.”
He displayed a series of images.
Khloe entering her obstetrician’s office.
Khloe leaving a prenatal yoga studio.
Samuel driving into the hospital garage.
Marcus meeting attorneys.
Marcus entering Thorne Tower.
Khloe stared at the pictures when Marcus later showed them to her.
“They tracked my doctor appointments.”
“Yes.”
“And Samuel.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“That’s what we need to understand.”
Khloe looked at one particular photograph.
It showed her standing outside the hospital six weeks earlier.
A man in a gray coat was visible behind her.
She pointed.
“Who is that?”
David zoomed in.
The image became grainy.
Samuel narrowed his eyes.
“I’ve seen him.”
“Where?”
“At the gala.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Last night?”
Samuel nodded.
“He was near the staff elevators.”
David ran facial recognition through a private database.
A result appeared.
Caleb Dunn.
Former executive protection contractor.
Currently employed by a risk-consulting firm with ties to Julian Mercer.
Marcus stared at the screen.
“This wasn’t obsession.”
Samuel nodded.
“No.”
“This was coordinated.”
Khloe sat back against her pillows.
A terrible possibility settled over the room.
“Isabella didn’t just want Marcus.”
No one answered.
Khloe continued.
“She wanted something from him.”
Marcus looked toward David.
“Get me everything on Mercer’s contact with Isabella.”
“I’ve already started.”
“Financial, digital, travel, social.”
“Yes.”
“And find Pike.”
David hesitated.
“There’s one more thing.”
Marcus’s patience disappeared.
“What?”
“Owen Pike sent an encrypted file to an unknown recipient at 10:42 last night.”
“That was during the gala.”
“Yes.”
“What was in it?”
“We haven’t decrypted it.”
Samuel looked at the timestamp.
“That was before the attack.”
Khloe felt another chill.
“So whatever Isabella planned…”
Marcus finished the thought.
“Started before she walked into your room.”
David’s phone buzzed.
He glanced at it.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
Marcus demanded.
David looked at him.
“We found Pike’s car.”
“Where?”
“Abandoned near the river.”
“And Pike?”
“Gone.”
Marcus’s face became unreadable.
May you like
David added the part none of them wanted to hear.
“There was blood on the driver’s seat.”
