Chapter 5 - The Web Unravels
For two hours, sitting in the quiet living room on Cactus Road while the toddler slept in the back room, Heather Perkinson laid out four years of documents, bank accounts, and text messages.
Heather was not entirely innocent—she had enjoyed the lifestyle, the luxury SUV, and the four-thousand-dollar monthly clothing allowances without asking too many hard questions—but she was undeniably a mark.
Edgar had met her when she was a twenty-four-year-old commercial leasing agent. He had presented himself as the co-owner and chief operating officer of Southwestern Materials Distribution. He had claimed that Nora was his former business partner and estranged ex-wife who was tying up his millions in endless corporate litigation.
He had even produced forged divorce decrees, signed by a fictitious state judge, to convince Heather to live with him and bear his child.
"He told me we would officially marry in Maui this December," Heather sobbed, sitting at her kitchen table surrounded by thick binders of financial statements Nora had pulled from her SUV. "He said the litigation with you was finally coming to an end. He said... he said he was getting a final twenty-five-million-dollar buyout from the business."
"The buyout was my death," Nora said flatly.
She flipped through a series of printed text message threads Heather provided from her phone.
Three weeks ago, Kristina had sent a message to Heather: ‘Don't worry, my sweet girl. The dark cloud over our family will be removed very soon. Make sure little Mason has his formal suit ready for the estate blessing in November.’
Nora pulled out her own phone, snapped high-resolution photographs of every text message thread, every bank document, and the forged divorce decree.
Then she stood up.
"What... what are you going to do?" Heather asked, looking up with red, swollen eyes. "Are you going to take the house? Are you going to take my car?"
Nora looked at the young woman, then at the framed photograph of the little boy sitting on the hallway table.
"I own this house, Heather," Nora said softly. "I own the car. I own the clothes on your back, because every dollar that bought them was stolen from my company’s operating capital. But I am not a murderer, and I am not a monster."
Nora pulled out a business card from her blazer pocket and placed it on the table.
"This is the direct number for my lead corporate litigator, Arthur Vance," Nora continued. "At eight o'clock this morning, my legal team will file an emergency freeze on every account associated with Edgar Finch, Kristina Finch, and Apex Properties. If you want to avoid being named as a co-conspirator in a federal racketeering and embezzlement indictment, you will take your son, drive to Arthur’s office at nine AM, and hand over every laptop, phone, and financial ledger in this house."
Heather nodded rapidly, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I will. I promise. I swear I didn't know about the snake, Nora! I swear to God!"
"I know you didn't," Nora said, opening the front door as the first orange rays of the Arizona sun began to filter through the palm trees. "You were just the prize they bought with my money."
May you like
Nora walked out into the cool morning air, pulled out her phone, and dialed Detective Thomas Miller of the Paradise Valley Police Department.
"Detective Miller," Nora said as soon as he answered. "This is Nora Preston. I have the motive, the financial trail, and the co-conspirators’ records for the attempted murder at my house last night. I am driving to your station right now."
