Chapter 6

The phone call came at 3:00 AM.

Diane was in bed, sleepless, staring at the ceiling, when her phone lit up with an unfamiliar number. She almost let it go to voicemail. But something—a hunch, a premonition, a whisper of survival instinct—made her answer.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Marsh." The voice was male, clipped, professional. "This is Agent Russell Clemens with the Texas Attorney General's Financial Crimes Unit. I apologize for the hour."

"Agent Clemens." Diane sat up, her heart suddenly hammering. "Is something wrong?"

"We've been going through the evidence you provided," he said. "The bank statements, the title transfers, the account records. And we've found something we need to discuss with you. Something that changes the scope of this case."

Diane felt her mouth go dry. "What is it?"

There was a pause on the line. She could hear him breathing, could hear the low hum of an office in the background. He was not at home, she realized. He was at work. At 3:00 in the morning, he was at work.

"Mark Barlow was not the principal," Agent Clemens said. "He was a front man. A managing partner. But the money didn't go to him."

"Then who did it go to?"

Another pause. Longer this time.