Chapter 6 - The Signature Cassandro Never Made
The insider turned out to be someone Cassandro trusted.
Not Martin.
Not a board member.
His executive administrator, Paul Danner.
Paul had worked for Cassandro’s father before Cassandro took over the company.
Twenty-two years of loyalty.
Or what Cassandro had mistaken for loyalty.
Digital logs showed Paul had accessed the West Briar records minutes after Martin opened them.
Brooks confronted him before noon.
At first Paul denied everything.
Then investigators showed him the forged authorizations.
His shoulders sagged.
“I never knew they took Elena.”
Cassandro stood across the interrogation-room table.
“You knew they were stealing.”
Paul stared at his hands.
“Vivienne said it was temporary.”
“Eight million dollars is temporary?”
“She said you owed her family.”
Cassandro laughed once without humor.
“My father fired hers twenty years ago for stealing.”
Paul looked up.
“That’s what this was about.”
Vivienne’s father, Graham Knox, had once managed several Vale properties.
Cassandro remembered him as charming.
His father remembered him differently.
Graham had inflated vendor contracts.
He had been quietly dismissed to avoid public scandal.
Vivienne had spent most of her adult life believing the Vales had destroyed her family.
Damian had built his security company using Graham’s remaining contacts.
Years later, Vivienne worked her way into Cassandro’s professional circle.
Patiently.
Carefully.
Paul admitted giving Damian access to Cassandro’s authorization token.
He admitted approving fake vendors.
He admitted helping Vivienne hide missing money.
Then Brooks asked the question that mattered.
“Where is Elena Vale?”
Paul’s face changed.
“I don’t know.”
Cassandro slammed both hands onto the table.
“Think.”
“I swear.”
“Think.”
Paul began crying.
“Damian came to me the morning after she disappeared.”
“What did he say?”
“That Elena had found the accounts.”
Cassandro leaned closer.
“And?”
“He said she was being handled.”
Cassandro went still.
“Handled how?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“You didn’t ask where my wife was?”
Paul looked ashamed.
“I was scared.”
Cassandro stepped away.
For seven weeks, people around him had chosen fear.
Convenience.
Money.
Silence.
And Elena had paid for all of it.
Brooks continued questioning Paul.
Finally, he remembered something.
Damian had demanded access to an old corporate satellite-internet account.
“For what property?”
Paul hesitated.
“West Briar.”
Brooks immediately requested emergency records.
The account had been inactive for months.
Then, on the night Elena disappeared, it came back online.
May you like
And it had connected almost every day since.
Someone was living at the red house.
