Chapter 6 - The Attorney Who Knew Everything
Martin Shaw refused to answer Catherine’s first three calls.
On the fourth, Naomi Brooks called from her own office.
Martin answered immediately.
“Naomi.”
“We need to meet.”
“I represent Catherine.”
“Not anymore.”
Silence.
Naomi continued.
“Your name appears as notary on documents creating Northstar Asset Management.”
“I notarize hundreds of documents.”
“These contain Catherine’s signature.”
“Then she signed them.”
“She says she didn’t.”
Another silence.
“I’m not discussing client matters with you.”
Naomi’s voice hardened.
“Martin, if Richard Welles used your office to create forged trust documents, you may want independent counsel before federal investigators begin asking the same questions.”
Martin hung up.
Twenty minutes later, Catherine received a text.
Do not contact me again.
Naomi read it.
“He’s scared.”
“So am I.”
That admission surprised Catherine.
She had spent her adult life equating fear with weakness.
Richard had encouraged that belief because it made her easier to manipulate.
Fearful people asked questions.
Proud people pretended they already knew the answers.
Across town, Emily sat with Detective Ortiz and Assistant District Attorney Maya Chen.
Maya was thirty-eight, precise and direct.
“We’re considering the video, your statement, Catherine’s observations, the torn uniform, your earlier voice memo and evidence suggesting planned retaliation.”
Emily folded her hands.
“What does considering mean?”
“It means we build a case that survives challenge.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because Richard has resources.”
“So rich people get better facts?”
“No,” Maya said. “They buy more ways to attack facts.”
Emily appreciated the answer because it was not comforting.
Maya continued.
“We also need you to understand something. The financial investigation may intersect with your case.”
“How?”
“Richard’s records appear to show plans for a payment associated with your initials.”
“I never received money.”
“We know that so far.”
“So far?”
“Emily, defense counsel may argue you were attempting extortion.”
Emily stared.
“They know the email was fake.”
“We believe it was fake. We still have to prove who created it.”
Emily stood.
“This is insane.”
“Yes.”
“He attacks me, he plans to frame me, and I have to prove every lie he invented before he even touched me?”
Maya remained seated.
“You don’t have to prove your innocence.”
“It sure feels like I do.”
Nobody contradicted her.
That night, Catherine received a call from Evelyn Hart.
“Graham Pike resigned.”
Catherine sat upright.
“What?”
“Effective immediately.”
“Where is he?”
“No one knows.”
“Did he take company records?”
“Our IT team says his access was disabled thirty minutes before the resignation was received.”
“Before?”
Evelyn paused.
“Catherine, someone inside security anticipated it.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
Catherine called Naomi.
Then Jonah.
By midnight, they had discovered something worse.
Graham’s Bellmont laptop had been remotely wiped.
Not perfectly.
Enough data remained in cloud backups for forensic recovery.
But someone had tried.
At one fifteen in the morning, Catherine’s phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Graham Pike sitting inside a car.
The image had been taken from the passenger seat.
Below it was a message.
I WANT IMMUNITY.
Catherine stared.
Another message.
RICHARD WILL DESTROY ME IF I TALK.
Catherine typed:
CALL THE POLICE.
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
A minute passed.
Another message arrived.
THE POLICE ARE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE INVESTIGATING.
Catherine frowned.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
No response.
At eight the next morning, Detective Ortiz called Catherine.
“Did Graham Pike contact you?”
Catherine’s pulse jumped.
“Yes.”
“Send us everything.”
“Is he missing?”
“We’re trying to locate him.”
“Detective, he said he wanted immunity.”
“For what?”
“He didn’t say.”
Catherine forwarded the messages.
Twenty minutes later, Naomi arrived.
“Do not communicate with Graham directly again.”
“I already told him to contact police.”
“Good.”
Catherine poured coffee with unsteady hands.
Naomi opened her laptop.
“Jonah found another Northstar transaction.”
“How much?”
“Three point two million.”
“To whom?”
“A private security company called Halcyon Risk.”
Catherine froze.
She knew Halcyon.
Richard had hired them years ago to manage executive protection, household security and digital surveillance.
Including the Welles mansion.
“The camera company?”
“Not exactly. Halcyon subcontracted the installer.”
Catherine sat down slowly.
“So Richard had access?”
“Possibly.”
“But he didn’t know about my new cameras.”
“Maybe not.”
Catherine remembered his words.
You still think this is your house.
Naomi continued.
“There’s another problem.”
She turned the laptop.
A property filing appeared.
The mansion’s ownership had been transferred eleven months earlier.
From Catherine’s family trust.
To Northstar Asset Management.
Catherine read the document twice.
Her forged signature appeared at the bottom.
Martin Shaw’s notarization appeared beneath it.
Richard had not merely stolen money.
He had moved Catherine’s home into a trust created in her name without her knowledge.
Then another document appeared.
A line of credit secured by the property.
Nine million dollars.
Drawn almost completely.
Catherine whispered, “Where did the money go?”
Jonah called at that exact moment.
Naomi put him on speaker.
“I traced part of it,” he said.
“Tell me.”
“Two million went to Halcyon.”
“And the rest?”
“Several destinations.”
“Jonah.”
He hesitated.
“Catherine, one payment went to Martin Shaw.”
The amount appeared on screen.
$1,000,000.
Catherine stared at the name of the attorney she had trusted for seventeen years.
Emily had been assigned a price of seventy-five thousand dollars.
Laura Benton had been assigned four hundred eighty thousand.
Martin Shaw had apparently cost Richard one million.
Catherine suddenly understood the architecture of her husband’s life.
Everyone had a price.
May you like
The only question was whether they were being bought to remain silent—
or being paid to help him silence someone else.
