Chapter 10 - The Service LogAvery Torres arrived with coffee and bad news.
“Which one first?” she asked.
“Coffee.”
“Smart.”
Adrian took the cup.
“Now ruin my morning.”
“The admin credential used to delete the yacht footage belongs to executive IT.”
“That’s not new.”
“This is.”
She opened her laptop.
“The credential wasn’t used from the Brooks Marine office.”
“Where?”
“A cellular gateway.”
Adrian frowned.
“Explain.”
“Whoever issued the command did it remotely through a portable device.”
“A phone?”
“Could be.”
“Can you locate it?”
“Approximately.”
Avery enlarged a map.
A circle appeared around downtown Miami.
Inside it sat several office towers.
Including Brooks Marine headquarters.
“That proves nothing.”
“Correct.”
“You look too happy.”
“I’m not done.”
She clicked another log.
“The same device authenticated to the Brooks Marine guest network two hours later.”
“Where?”
“The Northstar meeting suite.”
Adrian stared.
Marcus had met Northstar that morning.
“Could be one of twenty people.”
“Thirty-one, according to building access records.”
“You checked building records?”
“Detective Ortiz did. I’m not committing felonies before lunch.”
Adrian smiled despite himself.
“Anyone interesting?”
Avery rotated the screen.
The guest list included Marcus Bell.
Two Northstar executives.
Three lawyers.
Several assistants.
Then Adrian saw a name.
CALVIN REESE — SPECIAL PROJECTS
“Who’s Calvin Reese?”
Avery shrugged.
“Security contractor.”
Adrian called Ortiz.
She answered on the second ring.
“You’re looking at Reese.”
“How did you know?”
“Avery texts faster than you.”
Avery lifted her coffee innocently.
Adrian frowned.
“What’s his connection?”
“Former Brooks Marine network consultant. Left eighteen months ago.”
“Why?”
“Officially? Downsizing.”
“Unofficially?”
“Your HR department is suddenly rediscovering confidentiality.”
Adrian made a note.
“Can you subpoena his phone?”
“Warrants are not vending machines.”
“Detective.”
“We’re working on it.”
Avery pointed to another timestamp.
“There’s more.”
Adrian groaned.
“Of course.”
“Reese’s old certificate was revoked when he left the company.”
“Then how was it used?”
“Someone reactivated it.”
“Who can do that?”
“Three people.”
Avery listed them.
Chief technology officer.
Head of IT security.
Board-level administrator.
“Marcus?”
“Marcus has emergency board credentials.”
Adrian leaned back.
There it was again.
Still not proof.
Always close enough to smell.
Never enough to touch.
His office door opened.
Danielle entered carrying a paper bag.
“Lunch.”
Avery checked the clock.
“It’s ten forty.”
“I have children. Meals are a concept, not a time.”
She handed Adrian a sandwich.
“Eat.”
“I’m working.”
“You’re chewing while working.”
Adrian accepted defeat.
Danielle glanced at the screen.
“Who’s the bald guy?”
“Calvin Reese.”
“He’s not bald.”
“He will be emotionally by the time I’m finished with him.”
Avery nearly choked on coffee.
Adrian looked at his sister.
“You scare people.”
“That’s why Mom likes me better.”
Their mother did not.
But family jokes were useful. They reminded Adrian that some relationships could survive truth.
Avery’s phone chimed.
She read the message.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
“Ortiz got preliminary carrier data.”
Adrian stood.
“Reese’s phone?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Avery looked at him.
“The device used to delete the video was moving.”
“Moving where?”
She turned the laptop.
The cellular handoff pattern followed a route from downtown Miami toward the marina.
Adrian understood before she finished.
“It was heading toward the yacht.”
“Correct.”
“When?”
“About an hour before departure.”
Danielle stopped unwrapping her sandwich.
“Was Reese on the yacht?”
“No.”
“Then who had his device?”
Avery shook her head.
“We don’t know.”
Adrian thought back.
The marina had been busy.
Crew.
Guests.
Deliveries.
Corinne.
Then he remembered something.
Corinne had disappeared for ten minutes before they boarded.
She said she had forgotten sunscreen in the car.
Maybe she had.
Maybe not.
Adrian called Ortiz.
“Check marina parking cameras.”
“Already requested.”
“Corinne went back to the garage before boarding.”
A beat.
“That’s useful.”
“When will you—”
“I’m hanging up before you ask me when.”
She ended the call.
Danielle smiled.
“I like her.”
“Everyone likes the detective investigating my wife.”
“Ex-wife.”
“We’re not divorced.”
“Emotionally, I think the yacht handled the paperwork.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Too soon?”
“Deeply.”
Her phone buzzed.
She glanced down.
Then at Adrian.
“What?”
“Mom sent me something.”
She passed him the phone.
A local news site had posted a photograph of Adrian leaving the child advocacy center.
Headline:
BILLIONAIRE CEO’S FAMILY YACHT INCIDENT RAISES QUESTIONS
Adrian’s stomach dropped.
The article cited “a source close to the family” claiming Junie had a history of “impulsive behavior around water.”
“That’s a lie.”
Danielle nodded.
“Junie hates deep water.”
“Who told them this?”
Avery said nothing.
Adrian read farther.
Another anonymous claim:
Mrs. Brooks attempted to rescue the child but was physically prevented by a panicked family member.
Adrian’s vision narrowed.
“That never happened.”
“I know,” Danielle said.
Only a few people knew enough to craft a lie that specific.
Corinne.
Her lawyer.
Marcus.
Someone was no longer merely erasing evidence.
Someone was building an alternate story.
And they were doing it before the police investigation was finished.
Adrian put the phone down.
“Get me Marcus’s board calendar.”
Danielle frowned.
“Why?”
“Because if he wants to make this public…”
May you like
Adrian looked at the headline again.
“…then I’m done protecting him privately.”
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