Simone exhaled and began to tell the entire story, from the first day at Prime Solutions to the visit to the police. Sierra listened open-mouthed, gasping several times.
“Are you serious? You mean they tried to kill you?”
“Looks like it.”
“What now? Maybe you should hide somewhere. Get out of town.”
“No. The detective told me to stay in contact. They’re going to investigate. I have to wait for the results.”
Sierra shook her head.
“That’s terrifying. All right, you can stay here as long as you need. The sofa pulls out. I have bedding. Just be careful, okay? I don’t want anything happening to my best friend.”
“Thank you, Sierra. You’re a true friend.”
They hugged. Simone felt tears well up in her eyes, but held them back. She couldn’t fall apart. She had to stay strong and wait.
The rest of the day was spent in anxious anticipation. Simone lay on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, replaying the events of the last twenty-four hours. How quickly everything had changed. Yesterday morning, she had a job, a home, a routine life. Today, nothing but ashes and questions.
That evening around eight, Detective Hayes called.
“Simone Lawson, I wanted to update you. The investigators confirmed it. The fire was intentionally set. Gasoline cans were hidden in the basement. The ignition point was near your apartment. An accelerant, presumably gasoline, was used. The fire spread to the third and fourth floors. Your apartment suffered the worst damage. The concentration of substances there was highest.”
“So, they tried to murder me deliberately.”
“All signs point to it. Tomorrow, we’ll start interviewing your firm’s employees. We’ll proceed carefully under the guise of a routine inspection. For now, do not tell the director or anyone else that you’re alive and that you went to the police.”
“Understood. What about the results?”
“I’ll keep you informed. If anything urgent happens, call me anytime.”
Simone thanked him and hung up. Sierra was sitting nearby, nervously waiting for the call to end.
“Well?”
“Arson confirmed. The police are starting their work.”
“Listen, maybe you really should go stay with family, like your parents.”
“My parents are gone. My mom passed away five years ago. I don’t know my father. No other relatives either.”
“Then stay put right here. It’s safer together.”
They went to bed late. Simone lay on the sofa listening to Sierra toss and turn on the bed and couldn’t sleep. Thoughts raced. What would happen tomorrow? What would Victor Sterling say when he found out she was alive? And Kevin—how would he react?
The next morning, on Wednesday, Simone woke up to the sound of a text message. It was Kayla, the secretary from work.
Simone Lawson, it’s Kayla, the secretary at Prime Solutions. Why didn’t you come to work? Victor Sterling is asking.
Simone froze. What should she do? Text back or ignore it?
Kayla, I had an emergency. My building burned down. I can’t work right now, Simone wrote.
What? Seriously? Oh my God. Are you okay? came the reply.
I’m fine. Tell Victor Sterling that I’m taking a few days off to deal with documents and housing.
Okay, I’ll tell him. I’m sorry to hear that. Hang in there.
Simone put down the phone and looked at Sierra, who was standing in the doorway with a mug of coffee.
“Who was that?”
“Work. Asking why I didn’t show up.”
“And you told them? Don’t you think they’ll start looking for you now?”
“I told them about the fire, but not that I know it was arson.”
Sierra nodded, handing her the mug.
“Drink this, and let’s figure out the next step.”
Wednesday was overcast. Heavy clouds obscured the sky. Simone sat in Sierra’s kitchen, drinking her third cup of coffee and trying to organize her thoughts. Two hours had passed since Kayla’s message, and in that time, Simone realized one thing: she couldn’t sit around doing nothing. She had to act.
“Listen,” Sierra said, walking into the kitchen with her laptop. “I was thinking. You said the director asked about the missing signatures on the invoices. Do you have copies of those documents?”
Simone frowned.
“They’re at the office on my work computer, but I can’t go there now.”
“What about your email? Did you send yourself any files?”
“I did sometimes, yeah, for convenience, so I could check things at home if something didn’t match up.”
“Then check your email. Maybe there’s something in there.”
Simone took the laptop, opened her inbox, and scrolled through the emails from the past three months. Indeed, she had forwarded herself documents, spreadsheets, reports, and invoices several times. She opened the files one by one, examining the contents.
Most of the documents looked standard, but one file caught her attention. It was the March report she had prepared for Victor Sterling. Simone opened it and skimmed the lines. Normal company expenses and income: office rent, employee salaries, equipment purchases.
Wait.
Simone focused on one item.
Consulting services. Vector Consulting LLC. $87,000.
Almost a hundred thousand dollars for consulting. Simone frowned. She remembered processing this payment herself. At the time, it seemed strange that a small firm like Prime Solutions would spend that much on consulting, but Victor Sterling had insisted, saying it was an important partnership.
“Sierra, look.” Simone turned the laptop toward her friend. “This amount, almost a hundred thousand dollars for some kind of consulting services. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
Sierra squinted, looking at the screen.
“Odd? That’s suspicious. For a small company, that’s a huge amount of money. What’s Vector Consulting?”
“I don’t know. I just processed the payment based on the paperwork.”
“Let’s look them up online.”
Sierra took the laptop and typed the firm’s name into the search engine. The first results showed several companies with that name, but none matched the tax ID number on Simone’s documents. Sierra frowned and tried searching directly using the tax ID.
“Okay, look. Here’s the tax ID. Vector Consulting LLC was registered two years ago. Legal address…” Sierra paused, reading the information. “An office in a residential building on the outskirts. Director, a guy named Gary Thompson. Type of business: consulting services. No website, no phone number listed.”
“A shell company,” Simone concluded. “Looks like it. Look, the initial capital is ten thousand dollars, the minimum. No real assets. This is a classic money-laundering scheme. Money is transferred supposedly for services, but in reality, it’s just being taken out of the company’s revenue.”
Simone furrowed her brows. So, they really were running fraudulent transactions through her. Victor Sterling had used her as the accountant to process fake documents, and she hadn’t suspected anything. And when she started asking questions about the missing signatures on the invoices, he panicked that she would uncover the whole scheme and decided to get rid of her.
“I need to give this to the detective,” Simone said, pulling out her phone.
She called Hayes. He answered immediately.
“Simone Lawson. Something wrong?”
“Detective Hayes, I found something in my documents. A suspicious payment for nearly a hundred thousand dollars. The recipient company looks like a shell corporation.”
“Excellent. Email me all the documents you have. I’ll forward them to the police’s financial crimes unit. Let them investigate. In the meantime, continue to stay where you are. Don’t go outside unnecessarily. Stay off the grid.”
“Understood. One more thing. Someone from work texted me. The secretary asked why I didn’t show up.”
“And you responded?”
“I told her about the fire, but didn’t mention the police.”
“That was a mistake. You shouldn’t have answered them. Now they know you’re alive. But what’s done is done. At least let them think you survived and are just in shock. That buys us time. We’re conducting a search of the Prime Solutions office this evening. We’ll try to find the original documents in the director’s computer, and we’ll definitely detain Kevin. As soon as we fully establish his identity, we’ll detain him. We’re working on the photos now. Identification is underway.”
Simone thanked him and hung up. She forwarded Hayes all the potentially useful files from her email and closed the laptop.
“Well, are we waiting?” Sierra asked.
“We are.”
The rest of the day dragged on agonizingly slowly. Simone kept going to the window, looking out onto the street, checking her phone. Sierra tried to distract her, putting on a show, offering to play cards, but nothing helped. The tension grew with every minute.
Around seven in the evening, Kayla called Simone.
“Simone Lawson, you won’t believe what’s happening here.”
“What is it?” Simone pretended to be surprised. “Why?”
“I don’t know. The police came in with a search warrant. They turned everything upside down. Victor Sterling is yelling. Kevin Barnes disappeared. Simone, are you all right? Is this related to the fire?”
“I don’t know, Kayla. I’m staying in a hotel right now, dealing with documents and housing. Don’t worry, they’ll sort it out.”
Simone hung up and looked at Sierra.
“The search has started.”
“They’re fast. Do you think they’ll find anything?”
“I hope so.”
Half an hour later, Hayes called.
“Simone Lawson. Good news. We seized the director’s computer and all financial documents for the last year. Preliminary analysis shows that fraudulent transactions totaling around five hundred thousand dollars were run through your firm. The money was funneled through several shell companies, including Vector Consulting LLC. And Kevin—we identified him. Kevin Barnes, previously convicted of armed robbery, released three years ago, and hired by Sterling as security. We’re looking for him now. He wasn’t at his apartment. He’s been put on the wanted list.”
“So, he ran.”
“Possibly. Or Sterling tipped him off when we arrived. But we’ll find him. It’s a matter of time. You still need to be careful. Barnes is dangerous. If he finds out you’re alive and testifying against him, he might try to come after you.”
Simone swallowed. A chill ran down her spine.
“And Victor Sterling? Was he arrested?”
“Not yet. We took him in for questioning. He denies everything, says he knows nothing about fraudulent transactions, and that he signed the documents without looking, trusting you as the accountant. He’s pinning it on you. Classic tactic. But we have evidence that he’s lying. We found correspondence on Sterling’s computer with the director of Vector Consulting, Gary Thompson. They discussed the money-laundering scheme. We’ll be questioning Thompson tomorrow. I think he’ll crack quickly. People like that usually give up everyone at the first threat of prison.”
“So, things are going well.”
“Yes. Continue to stay in touch. I’ll call as soon as I have news.”
Simone hung up and exhaled. Sierra hugged her shoulders.
“See? It’s all working out. They’ll catch that Kevin. They’ll put the director away, and you can live in peace.”
“I hope so,” Simone replied quietly.
She slept poorly that night. She had nightmares—Kevin with a gas can, flames engulfing the apartment, her own screams for help. She woke up in a cold sweat, sat on the sofa, and listened to the silence of the apartment. Sierra was sleeping peacefully, her breathing steady. Simone envied her calm.
Thursday morning, she was woken by a call. She grabbed the phone and saw Hayes’s number.
“Hello.”
“Simone Lawson. We have news. Thompson was arrested last night. He confessed. He confirmed that Sterling organized the money-laundering scheme through shell companies. Thompson received a percentage for participating. Victor Sterling has been officially arrested, charged with felony fraud. A case of attempted murder—yours—has also been opened. Sterling denies involvement in the arson, but we know he gave the order to Kevin Barnes.”
“And where is Kevin?”
“We found him an hour ago. He was trying to leave the city on a bus. He was arrested at the bus station. He’s at the precinct now giving testimony. He confessed that Sterling paid him ten thousand dollars to burn your house down. He hired one other person to help—Dwayne ‘the Ghost’ Harris, also a criminal associate. Harris is already in custody.”
Simone felt a huge weight lift from her soul.
“So that’s it. They caught all the main suspects.”
“Yes. The investigation is ongoing. We’re gathering evidence and preparing the case. You’ll need to give an official statement, but that can be done at your convenience. The danger has passed.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“No problem. You saved yourself by listening to that old woman. Speaking of her, we’d like to take her statement. Can you connect us with her?”
Simone thought for a moment.
“She usually sits by the MARTA at Decatur Station every morning. Ms. Thelma May Jenkins.”
“Excellent. We’ll find her. Thank you again for your cooperation. Stay safe.”
Hayes hung up. Simone put the phone down and covered her face with her hands. Tears streamed down—tears of relief, exhaustion, and everything she had endured.
Sierra came over and hugged her.
“What happened? Bad news?”
“No,” Simone sobbed. “Good news. They caught them all. It’s over.”
Sierra held her tightly.
“There, there. That’s good. Everything will be all right.”
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