“This is direct proof that your husband’s death was no accident,” Stone said. “We need to get this to the State Attorney General immediately. The local authorities are compromised.”
Susan nodded, but just then her phone rang. It was her neighbor. In a panicked voice, she said that some men had come to the apartment, asking about Susan and the kids. She hadn’t opened the door, but they had lingered in the hallway for a long time.
“We have to get the kids out of there,” Stone said. “I have friends in the next county who can put you up for a few days. In the meantime, I’ll try to contact the AG’s office.”
But when he called the State Attorney General’s office, he was told the AG was on vacation and the deputy was out sick. The prosecutor on duty couldn’t see them for a week. Stone knew what that meant: someone had already pulled strings to block the official channels.
“That leaves the press,” he said after a moment of thought. “If this story hits a major news outlet, they won’t be able to bury it. We need to send copies of these files to several publications at once.”
Susan agreed. She had no other choice. The official channels were closed, and the threat to her children was growing more real by the minute. Stone compiled a list of ten major national news organizations and began sending out the materials. The first call from a journalist came within two hours. A reporter from a major national newspaper was intrigued by the story and asked for more details. Susan told him everything she knew, holding nothing back.
By evening, three more outlets had called. The journalists were hooked: a corruption scandal involving a banker and a politician was a huge story. They asked for time to verify the facts and promised to publish their findings in the coming days.
That night, Susan and her children moved to a small cabin owned by friends of Stone’s—a retired couple who agreed to take them in. The cabin was in a remote village a hundred miles from the city, where no one would think to look for them.
The next morning, the first articles appeared online. The newspaper ran a front-page story with the headline “City Hall Land Deal Scandal Rocks Suburb.” Other outlets quickly followed, adding details from their own investigations. By noon, the story was the biggest news in the country. Journalists uncovered more facts. It turned out that Alina Vance was Victor Grant’s niece, and her daughter Sophie had no biological connection to Mark. The DNA test had been faked, as had the childish notes on the receipts.
Stone called to report that the State Attorney General’s office had finally responded to the media storm. They had taken personal control of the case and formed a special task force. Grant was arrested in his office. A search of his home uncovered forged documents for dozens of similar fraudulent loans. Keller tried to flee the country but was apprehended at the airport with a suitcase full of cash and deeds to property in Spain.
Alina was arrested at her home in Birchwood Estates. She was trying to destroy incriminating evidence, but it was too late.
A week later, Susan returned to the city. The lead investigator from the AG’s office confirmed that the loan agreement would be declared null and void. Mark’s signature had been obtained under duress—a fact confirmed by a colleague Mark had confided in the day before he died. An independent forensic analysis determined that Mark’s car crash had been staged; marks on his vehicle indicated it had been intentionally forced off the road. The case was reclassified as a homicide, and Keller, hoping for a lighter sentence, confessed to his role in the murder.
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