Chapter 15 - Warrants and Checkmates|
The drive back into the sprawling city the next morning felt agonizingly, painfully slow. I gripped the heavy door handle of Marcus’s heavily armored truck, my knuckles turning completely white, while Maya slept peacefully in the backseat, lulled by the hum of the tires. We headed straight for the central police precinct, entirely bypassing the front desk and the standard security protocols, and marched directly into Detective Reynolds’ cluttered, cramped office.
Reynolds was nursing a cup of stale, lukewarm coffee, looking thoroughly exhausted after a long night of interrogating uncooperative suspects, but his tired eyes widened instantly when Marcus dropped a thick, freshly printed dossier onto his messy desk.
"Tell me this is exactly what I think it is," Reynolds said, sitting up incredibly straight, suddenly wide awake.
"It's the final nail in his luxurious coffin," Marcus stated confidently, crossing his muscular arms over his chest. "Complete, undeniable financial records tracing a ten-thousand-dollar wire transfer from Richard Sterling’s personal offshore trust directly to an untraceable crypto-wallet owned by Silas Vance. The transfer was authorized and executed exactly twelve hours before Silas snuck onto Elena's property and tampered with her brakes."
Reynolds quickly flipped through the crisp pages, his eyes scanning the highlighted routing numbers, the timestamps, and the irrefutable digital signatures. A slow, predatory, highly satisfied grin appeared under his thick mustache.
"This is absolutely pristine work, Cole," Reynolds muttered, clearly deeply impressed by the private investigator's skills. "The digital forensic team will obviously need to verify the IP addresses to make it legally bulletproof, but this is more than enough probable cause to secure an immediate, high-level arrest warrant for conspiracy to commit murder. The lenient plea deal he signed last year is officially void. Sterling is going down, and he’s going down hard."
"What about Arthur Vance?" I asked, desperately wanting the sleazy, corrupt lawyer to face severe justice just as much as his billionaire client.
"If Vance knowingly facilitated the payment, he’s an accessory before the fact," Reynolds said, reaching for his desk phone with a sense of urgent purpose. "I’m waking up the District Attorney at his house right now. We need a federal judge to sign off on a no-knock, tactical raid for Sterling’s penthouse before he gets wind that Silas has been compromised and we have the financial trail."
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I looked at Marcus, a profound, overwhelming sense of gratitude welling up in my chest. "You did it," I whispered, tears of relief pricking my eyes.
"We did it," Marcus corrected gently, his eyes soft. "Now, I highly suggest you take Maya to get some ice cream and celebrate. The police are about to make a very loud, very public, and very messy statement at the Sterling estate, and you don't need to be anywhere near the fallout."
