Chapter 3 — The Empty Shell

Horizon Builders was a commercial subcontracting firm owned by Uncle Richard.

In a diner across from the law office, I tethered the old tablet to my phone and went digging through the archived folders of Marcus’s synced email, searching the company name.

A dozen messages from two decades ago came up.

Marcus, one from Richard read, regarding the consulting fees for the Summit Engineering contract you pushed through for us, the funds have been wired to Margaret’s account as discussed.

The dates lined up with the deposits exactly. Marcus, working as a purchasing manager, had been soliciting kickbacks from his own uncle — and because he was afraid of his company’s compliance auditors, he’d used his mother’s personal savings account as a private vault.

I checked the most recent entry. Six months ago, the deposits had stopped. A bank note showed the account had been locked to outside transfers by the primary holder.