Page 103 of Keller

Slow down. Think.

The wire exists. The timeline correlation exists. But correlation is not causation. I learned that in my first year of financial crimes training. Data points cluster for all kinds of reasons. Coincidence. Proximity. Shared variables that have nothing to do with each other.

Robert Stone ran a massive shipping operation. A man in his position would have legitimate reasons to hire maritime risk consultants. Maybe he wanted independent verification of something his own team told him. Maybe he suspected internal problems and wanted outside eyes. Maybe the trust wire had nothing to do with the routing anomalies at all.

I pull up my internal guidelines document. The language is clear. My mandate is to identify irregularity sufficient tojustify escalation. Not to solve murders or to connect trafficking networks.

Facts. Documentation. Verification.

That's my job.

My phone screen lights up on the desk beside me. I glance at it automatically. Keller's name sits in my recent calls from last night. The warmth of his voice when he said he'd explain Savannah later, the way he didn't shut down when I asked questions.

He would explain later.

The memory complicates everything, creating a pressure I don't have time to examine. This. This is why sleeping with someone so close to an inquiry isn't appropriate, because now I don't want to see what I'm seeing.

It doesn't change the data.

I open my email and start a new draft. The cursor blinks in the "To" field.

I type the general contact address for Maris Intelligence Group.

Subject line: Formal Verification Inquiry – Federal Preliminary Review.

Dear Maris Intelligence Group Representatives,

This inquiry is submitted under the authority of federal preliminary review. I am requesting confirmation of the following regarding advisory services retained by Robert Stone in late September of last year:

1. Engagement date

2. Scope of services

3. Delivery timeline for any advisory deliverables

Please direct your response to the secure federal review portal linked below. Standard verification protocols apply.

I read the draft twice, checking the phrasing and removing a word that sounds too aggressive. Finally, I add a sentence about compliance with standard documentation requests.

There's no mention of trafficking or murder, or the routing anomalies or the dormant trust.

My cursor hovers over "Send."

If Maris confirms they delivered a report days before October 12th, this stops being curious and starts being consequential. If their scope of work intersected with Gulf Meridian Imports or those three containers, the anomaly shifts from background noise to center stage.

If they confirm nothing, the transaction stays a footnote. A wealthy man moving money through old accounts for reasons that died with him.

One click.

I think about what happens next. Maris receives my request, they pull their records, and they see a federal review flag attached to a dead client's name. They respond through official channels with dates and deliverables that either matter or don't.

And if they matter?

Then I've opened something I can't close.

No one else has flagged the Eleanor Stone Historic Preservation Trust. The account wasn't on anyone's radar. It would have stayed invisible if I hadn't run the personal asset sweep. The wire to Maris wouldn't exist in anyone's file but mine.

No one else has connected these threads.