Chapter 5 - The Rat Turns
Harrison Price was a different breed of criminal than Valerie. He wasn't driven by petty domestic cruelty; he was driven by pure, unadulterated greed. And unlike Valerie, Harrison understood the legal system intimately. He knew how utterly screwed he was.
Marcus Sterling and I met with the Assistant United States Attorney handling the case.
"Price is terrified," the federal prosecutor told us, tossing a thick file onto the conference table. "He knows the wire fraud charge alone carries a mandatory minimum that will ensure he dies in a federal cell. So, he's attempting to flip."
"Flip on who?" I asked. "It was just him and Valerie."
"Not entirely," the prosecutor smiled grimly. "Harrison has been running this specific grift for over a decade. He identifies elderly clients with declining cognitive functions and wealthy, absent children. He isolates them, drains their trusts into offshore shells, and claims the assets were legally gifted."
My stomach turned. "He’s done this before?"
"We believe he has at least six other victims. But Harrison is offering to hand over his entire encrypted ledger—the names of his offshore bankers, the corrupt notaries who rubber-stamped the forged documents, and the medical professionals who provided false cognitive evaluations."
"In exchange for what?" Marcus demanded.
"A reduced sentence. Ten years in a white-collar facility instead of thirty in maximum security."
I leaned back in my chair, disgusted. "And Valerie?"
"Harrison is throwing her entirely under the bus," the prosecutor said, opening the file. "He provided a sworn affidavit this morning stating that Valerie masterminded the entire operation. He claims she blackmailed him into helping her."
I almost laughed. "And you believe that?"
"Of course not," the prosecutor replied. "But Harrison is giving us a criminal syndicate. Valerie is just a cruel wife. I need to know if you, as the primary victim's representative, will support the plea deal for Price in order to secure the larger arrests."
May you like
I thought about my mother. I thought about the other families who had been destroyed by Harrison Price without ever knowing the truth because they didn't have hidden cameras.
"Take the deal," I said firmly. "Drain his network. But make sure Valerie goes to trial. I want her on the stand. I want her to have to answer for every single second of that footage."
