Chapter 4 - The Secrets of the Precinct
The smell of stale coffee and industrial disinfectant filled the interrogation wing of the sheriff's department. I sat in a small waiting area, Marcus Vance standing beside me with a paper cup of lukewarm water.
Alex had been taken to the local community hospital to receive sixty-two stitches across his face. His parents were currently being processed in a separate holding cell for criminal trespass, their arrogant high-society demeanor completely broken by the reality of steel handcuffs and orange jumpsuits.
Sergeant Miller walked out of the back offices, his expression remarkably grave. He held a thick stack of documents that hadn't been part of Marcus's original file.
"Dr. Sterling," Miller said, inviting us into a private conference room. "We’ve got a massive complication regarding the woman your husband was harboring."
I sat down, my hands folded neatly in my lap. "What kind of complication?"
"When we ran her fingerprints through the NCIC database, she didn't come back as 'Lauren Navaro,'" Miller explained, dropping the file onto the table. "Her real name is Elena Rostova. She’s a dual citizen of Russia and the United States, and she’s been on the FBI’s financial crimes and cyber-fraud radar for the last four years."
I looked at Marcus, whose eyebrows had shot up to his hairline. "Cyber-fraud?" I asked.
"She’s a corporate parasite, Dr. Sterling," Miller said, leaning forward. "Her modus operandi is simple but incredibly effective. She targets mid-level executives or managers at major firms—men who are insecure, greedy, and easily manipulated by a beautiful young woman. She becomes their assistant, starts an affair with them, and then uses their security credentials to skim millions from corporate accounts, routing the funds to offshore accounts in Cyprus and Malta."
A cold dread began to settle in my stomach. "Alex manages a flagship department store for a multi-billion-dollar retail conglomerate."
"Exactly," Miller nodded. "We just contacted the corporate compliance division of his employer. Over the past twelve months, over $1.4 million has been embezzled from their regional supply chain accounts. The digital signatures used to authorize those transfers belong exclusively to one person: Alex Sterling."
I let out a sharp breath. "Alex didn't have the brains to pull off a corporate embezzlement scheme. He couldn't even manage our household budget."
"He didn't pull it off," Marcus interjected, his voice grim. "She did. She used him as the fall guy. She let him think he was the big, powerful man spending his 'bonus' on her, while she was systematically setting him up to take the rap for a federal crime."
"And it gets worse," Sergeant Miller added. "The FBI has just issued a detainer for her. But because your husband’s name is on every single fraudulent transaction, he is being classified as a co-conspirator. The feds are flying in from Boston as we speak. Your husband isn't just looking at a divorce, Dr. Sterling. He’s looking at twenty years in a federal penitentiary."
I sat back in my chair, the sheer scale of the betrayal and the subsequent implosion washed over me. Alex had thought he was outsmarting me, the busy doctor who worked too hard to notice his pathetic little affair. In reality, he had walked directly into the jaws of a professional predator, using my hard-earned money to finance his own destruction.
"Is there any financial liability for me?" I asked, my clinical focus reasserting itself. "The accounts she skimmed from... my name wasn't on his corporate credentials."
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"No," Miller assured me. "Your assets are entirely separate, and Vance's forensic reports clearly show you were the victim of domestic larceny regarding the thirty thousand dollars. You’re clean, Doctor. But your husband... well, his life is officially over."
"Good," I said, standing up. "Let's make sure the divorce papers are served to him while he's still in his hospital bed."
