Chapter 3 - THE ACCOUNT IN THE SHADOWS
The clock on the wall read 6:45 a.m.
Gavin’s final sentence was scheduled for exactly 10:00 a.m. Three hours and fifteen minutes remained.
Mitchell walked briskly down the painted cinderblock hallway toward his private office, the crumpled drawing clutched tightly in his fist. He locked the heavy wooden door behind him and moved straight to his desk. He picked up his phone and dialed a number he hadn't called in four years.
“State Financial Bureau, Agent Miller,” a gruff voice answered.
“David, it’s Rob Mitchell down at Huntsville,” the warden said, keeping his voice low. “I need a favor. Off the books. I have a routing and account number. I need to know who it belongs to, and I need to know right now.”
“Rob, you know I can’t run an unauthorized—”
“A man is going to the chamber in three hours, David. If I’m wrong, I’ll buy you a steak dinner and turn myself in to internal affairs. Just run the numbers.”
Mitchell read the digits off the back of Chloe’s drawing. He listened to the frantic clicking of a keyboard on the other end of the line. The silence stretched, amplifying the heavy ticking of the wall clock.
“Rob,” David finally said, his voice dropping an octave. “This is a blind trust registered in the Cayman Islands. But the domestic feeder account attached to it... it’s registered to Arthur Russo.”
Mitchell closed his eyes. The lead detective.
“Check the deposit history from five years ago,” Mitchell ordered. “Specifically, the month before Sarah Cole was murdered.”
More clicking. Then, a sharp intake of breath.
“Three days before the murder,” David read, “a deposit of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars was made into this account. Rob... the money was transferred from the Martin Vance Foundation.”
Martin Vance. The neighbor with the silver watch. The state’s star witness.
The reversal hit Mitchell like a physical blow to the chest. Martin Vance wasn’t a terrified bystander who happened to look out his window at the right time. Vance had paid the lead detective a quarter of a million dollars three days before Sarah Cole was killed.
Gavin didn't kill his wife. Sarah Cole had discovered the payoff. She had written the account numbers down and hidden them in a shoebox. Russo and Vance had orchestrated her murder to silence her, and they framed her husband to close the case.
Mitchell slammed the phone down. He had to stop the execution.
He stood up and walked to his filing cabinet, pulling the visitor logs for Gavin Cole. He needed to secure the child. If Russo knew Chloe had found that paper, the little girl was in unimaginable danger.
Mitchell scanned the log. He looked at the name of the social worker who had escorted Chloe today.
Brenda Hayes.
He checked the system for her state credentials. The profile popped up on his computer screen. Brenda Hayes. Maiden name: Brenda Russo.
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Mitchell’s blood ran completely cold.
The social worker holding Gavin’s daughter in the waiting room right now was Detective Arthur Russo’s younger sister.
