Chapter 7 - The Independent Line
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The first breakthrough in our investigation occurred during a virtual quarterly budget review.
Paulo Ricci, the senior chief accountant for the Pellegrini enterprise, had faithfully served Alexander’s family for over twelve years. I had interacted with him almost daily since taking the assistant position. He was an impeccably dressed, soft-spoken man, so obsessed with precision that he once halted a five-million-dollar land acquisition over a discrepancy of less than two dollars.
During the video conference, his hands were trembling visibly as he flipped through digital files.
He went through the port operating expenses, then attempted to quickly skip past a fifteen-thousand-dollar wire transfer made to a firm named Northstar Freight Consulting.
I had never encountered that company name in any official ledger. More importantly, I had never authorized a calendar code for their services.
“Pause on that slide, Paulo,” I requested firmly.
Paulo accidentally closed the screen-sharing window before frantically re-opening the document.
“It is a routine logistics consultation fee, Miss Mitchell,” he stuttered out, avoiding eye contact.
“Logged under which calendar event?” I pressed.
“The October seventeenth executive meeting.”
I recalled that week effortlessly. “Alexander was attending meetings in Philadelphia on the seventeenth. The port conference was moved to the nineteenth.”
Paulo glanced nervously at someone standing just out of the camera's frame.
He forced a tight smile. “A simple clerical error on my part. I will fix the entry immediately.”
The moment the call ended, I marched into Alexander’s private study.
“Paulo is terrified,” I stated directly.
“I am aware,” Alexander replied calmly.
I stared at him in utter disbelief. “How long have you known he was compromised?”
“Roughly ten days.”
“And you permitted me to participate in that financial review without informing me he was under suspicion?”
“I required an unscripted, natural interaction to observe his body language,” Alexander admitted.
“You used me as an unwitting tool in your interrogation without my consent!” I snapped, my temper flaring.
The familiar defensiveness flared in his eyes, but he suppressed it immediately.
“You are right,” he conceded softly. “That was a violation of our agreement. I apologize.”
“Do not let it happen again.”
“It won't.”
I placed my analytical notes on his desk. “Paulo’s accounting mistake directly links the department to the leaked schedules. But it doesn't explain his motive. Northstar Freight could be a blackmail payment, an extortion fee, or a dummy account hiding stolen funds.”
“Paulo’s daughter has accumulated massive illegal gambling debts,” Alexander revealed.
“How did you uncover that?”
“Joseph’s team detected high-risk collection agents hovering around her apartment complex.”
“Then do not treat Paulo like an irredeemable traitor until you confirm whether Victor controls him through fear or greed,” I advised.
Alexander leaned back in his leather chair, studying me intently. “How would you handle him?”
“Feed him a high-value schedule update that only the accounting department receives,” I proposed strategically. “Make it enticing enough for Victor’s team to act upon, but completely harmless so no one is put in physical danger.”
Together, we engineered a fake surprise inspection at an abandoned warehouse facility in Jersey City. Paulo received a revised car-service authorization and a coded notification indicating Alexander would meet two key alliance leaders at the location. No other department was given the information.
Victor’s hit squad arrived at the warehouse forty minutes before the scheduled meeting time.
That confirmed Paulo was the leak.
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It still remained to be seen whether he was acting out of malice or sheer desperation.
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