He met her gaze and held it, willing her to go along with him.
Cate nodded. “I’m ready.”
Draco tucked the pile of evidence beneath his arm, left the key on the tabletop, and strode through the door.
Herr Carlson pushed away from the wall he’d been leaning against. “Is your business complete?” His gaze went to the documents tucked beneath Draco’s arm.
“It is,” Draco said, not offering any more of an explanation than was necessary.
Herr Carlson’s eyes narrowed slightly, then he straightened, closed the vault door and spun the handle. “Please, follow me.”
Back down the long corridor, through the door into the lobby, Carlson didn’t stop until they reached the receptionist’s desk. “I leave you here. Guten Tag.” The man disappeared back through the inner door.
The receptionist raised her eyebrows. “I trust Herr Carlson was able to help you. If you need anything else, please, do not hesitate to ask. We are here to serve our clients in complete privacy.”
While Cate thanked the woman, Draco texted the driver. By the time they stepped out of the bank, the hired car was pulling up to the curb. Draco bent to double-check that the driver was the same one who’d brought them there. Still, he got into the vehicle first, dropped the documents on the seat, and quickly reached for Cate’s hand, urging her into the car. The uncontrollable fear that she’d be snatched while standing on the sidewalk threatened to overwhelm him until she was securely seated and belted.
Cate closed the door and leaned her head back against the seat, pressing her hand to her chest. “That was intense.”
He took her hand and squeezed it gently. “But we did it and came away with real clues.”
Cate lifted her head and nodded. “Let’s hope so.”
They arrived minutes later at Hammer’s office and carried the documents into the conference room.
Hammer, Dmytro, Crusher, Marta and Devon Marsh were there. Draco shot a glance toward Cate.
Her face lost some of its color.
“Cate,” Marsh crossed the room to pull her into his arms. “I’m glad you made it back safely. I was afraid that after the banker committed suicide things would escalate.” He leaned back and stared at her face. “Are you all right? You’re a bit pale.”
She gave a stiff smile and stepped out of his arms. “I’m okay, just tense. We found some intriguing documents. We brought them here to sift through them.”
Draco dropped the stack on the conference table and let go of the breath he felt he’d been holding throughout their illegal visit to the bank vault.
They spread the envelopes across the table in date order.
Cate’s father stared at Garrett Sterling’s signature appearing on nearly every document. “I don’t understand.” He shook his head. “These signatures all look the same.”
“They are,” Cate said. “All Garrett Sterling’s.”
“I realize that, but look at them. They are exact copies. No one writes the exact same signature every time. This was a stamp of his signature.”
Cate touched her father’s arm. “Maybe so, but don’t mention any of this to your friend until we have the big picture.”
Devon Marsh nodded. “I won’t.”
Cate sat in front of the ledger as the others read from an envelope. She compared purchase orders, inventories and payments to the entries in the book. They matched the documents.
When they’d gone through everything, Cate sat back, a frown creasing her forehead. “Only two of the shipments show that they made it onto an actual boat.”
“The rest being the ghost products conjured for big payoffs,” Draco noted.
Cate nodded. “To the tune of nine million dollars.” She touched her finger to the last page of the entries. “There’s also a single ten-thousand-euro payment made to a bank account here in Zurich, belonging to a Lena Brandt.”
Dmytro rounded the table and stared down at the entry. “Brandt, you say?”
She pointed to the entry.
