Chapter 25 - The Shadow Investigator
Vance Gable was a man who existed entirely in the gray areas of the law. He was an unlicensed private investigator, a former police detective who had been quietly dismissed from the force for evidence tampering and extortion. He sat in his dark, smoke-filled office, listening to the shrill, frantic voice of Vivian Grant on the burner phone.
"I can find dirt on anyone, Mrs. Grant," Vance said, taking a slow drag from a cheap cigar. "But a woman who just won a massive, high-profile divorce case with a shark like Naomi Chen? She’s going to have a wall of security around her. Ten thousand dollars buys my time, but it doesn't buy miracles."
"She has secrets!" Vivian shrieked into the receiver. "She manipulated her dying grandmother! She faked the entire highway incident! I know she did! You just have to follow her. Find a crack in her perfect little life."
Vance exhaled a thick cloud of gray smoke. "I'll tail her. I'll tap her digital footprint. If she has a weakness, I'll exploit it. But if her security team makes me, I double my fee."
"Just get it done," Vivian hissed, hanging up the phone.
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Vance opened a fresh digital file on his encrypted laptop, typing in the name Lena Grant. He pulled up the public court records, scanning the details of the restraining order and the trust fund parameters. He realized very quickly that this wasn't going to be an easy job. The woman had Elias Grant running her physical security. Vance knew Elias by reputation—an absolute ghost who was notoriously ruthless to anyone who crossed his perimeter.
But Vance was arrogant, fueled by greed and a twisted sense of superiority. He grabbed his digital SLR camera with a telephoto lens and his car keys. He didn't know he was walking into a trap set by a woman who had stopped being a victim a long time ago.
