Chapter 5 - The Shadow Network
Arthur was in a maximum-security detention center, but men with money and narcissism rarely stop fighting just because they are behind bars. Two days after the bail hearing, my burn phone buzzed. It was Marcus.
"We have a problem," Marcus said, his tone grim. "We monitored a call from Sterling's cell using a contraband burner phone. He reached out to a former business associate—a guy named Julian Vance, no relation to his lawyer. Julian runs a private 'fixer' outfit in the city. Mostly corporate intimidation, but they've been linked to witness tampering before."
"What did Arthur ask for?" I asked, already checking the perimeter cameras of the safe house on my tablet.
"He wants your mother's location," Marcus replied. "He told Julian that if Clara doesn't testify at the grand jury indictment next week, the federal prosecution's primary witness vanishes, and the stalking charges collapse."
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I felt the old, familiar heat of the hunt rising in my chest. Arthur still thought he could buy his way out of a prison sentence by terrorizing women. He didn't understand that by bringing outside muscle into a federal witness tampering case, he was just digging a deeper grave.
"Let them look," I told Marcus, a cold strategy forming in my mind. "In fact, let's give Julian a crumb to follow. If Arthur wants to play a game of cat and mouse, let's show his fixers what a real trap looks like."
