Catherine's Photograph

Chapter 207: Catherine's Photograph Margaret's phone was still warm from the clerk's call when Martha's new request arrived: no HT-marked document could be circulated until Monday's hearing. If the judge agreed, Thomas Chen would walk into the shareholder room without the original grant pages in his hands, and James Hunt Sr. would have won without touching the evidence. Leah read the sentence twice, then looked through the glass at Mara Elkins's team still feeding files through scanners. The audit was alive only because everyone in the office had refused to stop moving. Martha was trying to make stillness sound like law. "She wants Chen blind," Leah said. Margaret had already taken a yellow pad from the end of the table. "She wants the judge to think circulation equals prejudice. We answer with necessity." "Necessity for whom?" "For the shareholder vote," Margaret said. "For the court's own order. For preservation. If the documents cannot reach the director whose vote determines whether the audit survives, the emergency is no longer theoretical." Sarah stood in the doorway with two phones and no color left in her face. "Diana says Chen is asking for the actual grant pages again. Not summaries. He wants original HT pages, chain notes, and the memo together." "Good," Leah said. Margaret looked up sharply. "Good?" "He is not asking Martha for reassurance. He is asking us for proof." That bought them less than a minute of hope. Mara came out of the conference room with a stack of pages clipped tight against her chest. "I can give him the first HT set now, but if the judge bars circulation, anything after this becomes risky." "Then we send what we can before the order changes," Leah said. Margaret did not move. "We do not outrun a court. We move inside what the current order still permits." "Then say that in writing while Diana is still with him." Margaret's eyes held Leah's for a beat, measuring the line between speed and recklessness. Then she turned to her assistant. "Draft a cover note. Existing authorization remains in effect unless modified. Materials provided to Director Chen for vote-related diligence under the audit order. No public dissemination. No waiver." Mara set the clipped pages on the table. "Grant file HT-11. PRI recipient with no staff, no program site, and the first outbound wire forty-six hours later to a Hale-linked entity. If Chen reads only one file before the judge rules, it should be this one." Leah took the stack. The paper felt heavier than it should have. A charitable grant, a fake recipient, a wire, a notation that looked small enough to ignore unless you knew it was Martha's hand on the switch. "Diana can photograph the pages if courier time is too slow." "No," Margaret said. "Courier and secure scan. Chain has to stay clean." Sarah was already calling downstairs. "I can get a runner from the building's legal services desk. Fifteen minutes to Chen's office if traffic holds." "Make it ten," Leah said. The first visible win came not from the court, but from a shareholder who had no reason to protect Leah. At 4:32, Diana texted a single line: Venture firm committed. Full audit scope. 380,000 shares. Leah read it aloud. For the first time all afternoon, Mara's shoulders dropped. "That offsets Hunt's first block," Sarah said. "If Chen holds, Hunt Sr. cannot reach simple majority with Martha alone." Margaret wrote the number on the pad, circled it once, and handed the page to Leah. "This is the point Chen must understand. The vote is no longer a wall. It is a door with one man standing in it." Leah texted Diana back. Did they ask for anything? Nothing, Diana replied. They worked with the Foundation on PRI grants. They want to know whether their investments funded charitable work or Martha's offshore network. Their counsel says transparency protects them better than silence. That was the chapter's small satisfaction, and Leah let herself feel it. Martha had spent the day buying fear. One investor had chosen self-preservation through truth instead. The runner left at 4:44 with the HT-11 file sealed in a gray envelope and Margaret's cover note clipped outside. Leah watched the elevator doors close on him, then looked back at the glass wall. Mara's team had not slowed. The scanners kept breathing paper into light. At 5:06, Diana called instead of texting. "Chen has the file." Leah put her on speaker. Margaret leaned close. "He opened it in front of me," Diana said. "He read the HT notation first, then the recipient page, then the wire trail. Martha's assistant called while he was reading. He looked at the screen and let it go to voicemail." Sarah's mouth parted. "Hunt Sr.'s office called two minutes later," Diana continued. "Same thing. He let it ring." Leah pressed her hand flat against the table. The relief did not soften the danger. It sharpened it. "Did he say anything?" "He said, 'Send the next file the same way.'" Margaret closed her eyes for one second. When she opened them, she was already writing. "Mara, give me the strongest second HT set." Mara turned back to the files. "I have one with the same recipient family and a second offshore hop." "Then Chen gets that before the judge rules." Leah's phone buzzed again. A text from Catherine Voss appeared above Diana's call log. Detective Okafor asked if I had any photographs from before October 2002. I found one from August 2000. James, Elena, and baby Isabella at home. There may be someone in the background. Leah's breath caught so hard Sarah looked over. The office noise thinned. The court, the audit, Chen's vote, Ethan's cooperation - all of it remained urgent, but the photograph pulled a colder thread through the room. August 2000 was two years before the murders. Two weeks after Isabella's birth. Margaret saw Leah's face change. "What is it?" Leah held up the phone. "Catherine has a photograph. James and Elena. Baby Isabella. Someone watching in the background." Margaret's pen stopped. The elevator opened behind them. The legal runner stepped back into the office with a second empty courier sleeve in his hand. "Chen wants the next file," he said. "And Ms. Voss, he asked whether the HT memo can be shown with the photograph if the prosecutor clears it." Leah looked down at Catherine's message, then toward Mara's files. Martha had tried to cut off circulation. Instead, Chen was asking for more.