Chapter 4

I heard later that when the investigators walked in, Matthew's first reaction was contempt.

He had them taken to a small conference room, then sat and finished a pour-over coffee at his own pace.

He assumed it was a nuisance move — a competitor stirring up trouble, or some minor compliance slip by one of his underlings.

He walked into the room wearing his best boardroom smile.

"Gentlemen, thanks for making the trip. Our company has always been a model taxpayer. I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding."

The investigators didn't return the smile. They opened their files and laid them on the table.

"Mr. Matthews. This complaint was filed under a named identity. The documentation is detailed and extensive. Please don't waste our time. We need the financial data now."

Matthew's smile went rigid on his face.

He called in the new CFO. "Give them whatever they need."

The CFO broke into a full sweat on the spot.

"Sir... all the original data is inside the encrypted system. We can't extract anything."

Silence fell like a hammer.

Matthew's face changed for the first time. He sent the CFO out with a wave and turned back to the investigators with a reconstructed smile.

"We're experiencing a minor system issue. Our technical team is working on it as we speak. Could you give us forty-eight hours?"

The investigators looked at him without expression.

"Mr. Matthews, we follow procedure. If we don't have access to complete records by nine o'clock tomorrow morning, we'll move to compulsory measures."

"Such as freezing your company's operating accounts."

They stood, picked up their files, and left without another word.

Matthew sat alone in the conference room, and for the first time, he felt a chill that had nothing to do with the air conditioning.

He finally understood. This had stopped being manageable.

He shot out of the room, grabbed his phone, and called my number again.

Still off.

He started working through his contacts like a man on fire.

He called my best friend, Susan.

"Where is Jennifer? Put her on the phone."

Susan's voice was ice. "Matthew, you have some nerve calling her. I don't know where she is." The line went dead.

He called my parents' house.

My mother picked up.

"It's Matthew. Has Jennifer been in touch with you?"

There was a long silence on her end.

"Matthew... Jennifer said she needs some time to herself." Her voice was measured. "She asked us not to pass any messages along. And she asked that if you have any decency left, you won't bother us."

Matthew stood holding the phone, his palm damp.

For the first time, he felt something close to panic — the specific terror of realizing the world has quietly walked away from you.

He put the phone down on the desk. His chest rose and fell hard.

Grace came in wearing that sweetly suffocating perfume, her voice sliding into its familiar register.

"Matthew, don't let her get to you. She's not worth it. A system is just a system — we'll build a new one."

Matthew looked up slowly. His eyes had gone somewhere dangerous.

"You have no idea what you're talking about." He said it quietly. That was worse than shouting. "You think this is a grocery run?"

Grace froze, eyes going glassy.

Matthew had already turned away from her. A thought had surfaced through the noise.

Her desk computer. The server at home.

Maybe there was still something salvageable.

He grabbed his keys and left at a near sprint.