Inspector Brandt held back, remaining close enough to record their conversation and far enough to let Cate be the focus.
“Marcus.”
“What do you want?” Marcus grumbled.
Draco could have answered that. She wanted to take him down. He’d put her friend through hell. But he wasn’t a threat anymore. He’d get his just deserts; Dana would be free, and she could divorce the bastard.
What Cate wanted was answers.
“The car that hit you was driven by Sean Sanders,” she said. “Name ring a bell?”
Marcus’s lip pulled up in a sneer. “Never heard of him.”
She went on, stating facts. “He’s a former Delta Force operator now a mercenary, gun for hire.”
Marcus’s face paled, and he glanced away. “Still don’t know him.”
“Well, he knew who you were and tried to kill you.” Her voice softened.
Draco’s chest swelled with pride at how well she handled herself.
“So?” Marcus said.
“He’s two doors down with a fractured skull.”
Marcus’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know him. Why should I care?”
“When he wakes, he’s going to talk.” Her brow dipped low. “Will that be before or after you?”
Marcus’s gaze shifted to the door and back to Cate. His usual arrogance seemed to have worn thin, almost brittle; the muscles in his throat worked nervously.
“Not going to talk?” Cate crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine, then I’ll fill in the blanks with what I know and what the Kantonspolizei are now aware of.” She tipped her head toward the inspector. “This is Inspector Brandt. She’s been working your case even before I got involved. Let me paint the picture. You set up a corporation called Alpenhorn. You wrote the specs to get it approved as a vendor for the US government even though, in truth, it didn’t exist. You created the purchase orders for products that were never delivered but were paid for with US tax dollars. That money, totaling nine million dollars, was funneled into a bank here in Zurich. You faked your death, giving yourself time to disappear.” She cocked an eyebrow. “Did I leave anything out?”
His eyes narrowed to slits. “You can’t prove that.”
She smiled. “Actually, I can prove most of it. I just can’t figure out why someone as smart as you hasn’t touched the money in that account when the evidence has your fingerprints all over it?” Cate tilted her head slightly. “Unless the account isn’t actually yours, and you can’t get to it.”
Marcus’s gaze shifted to the door in a flash of fear and back to her, a flush of ruddy red rising up his cheeks. Anger.
Good, Draco thought. She’s getting to him.
Marcus lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “Let’s say all of that is true, not that I’m admitting to anything. I didn’t build the operation. I’m just the face, the name on the forms. It wasn’t my idea. I’m just the patsy set up to cover for someone else. To take the fall. The real person behind it all, the man who controls that money, hasn’t left his mark on anything. He remains squeaky clean,” Marcus’s fists curled into the blanket. “And to ensure his reputation remains pristine, he sent this Sanders dude as a cleanup crew to take me out.”
“I need the name,” Cate said.
Marcus shook his head. “I want a deal.”
“It’s not going to happen. You’re not in a position to negotiate.”
“I don’t care what position I’m in,” Marcus snorted. “The name is all I have left to bargain with. You want it more than you want to see me dead.” He met her gaze, unflinching. “Hell, you know the name. The asshole pulling the strings is your father’s friend, Garrett Starling. He set it up. He’s been skimming money off the contracts for the federal government for years. I doubt Alpenhorn is the only fake corporation he’s created. It just happened to be the one he handed me.”
Cate’s jaw tightened, the only clue the name meant something to her. He was a man her father had called his friend for fifteen years.
“We have the papers from the drop box. His signatures are all over the forms.”
Marcus shook his head and winced. “Rubber stamps. He signs thousands of orders a week. He’ll swear he never read them and claim I forged them, betraying a trusted official and the US government.” He pushed his free hand through his hair, his voice dropping. “The signatures won’t hold up in court. He’s got this operation down to a science. The money is all he cares about. I guarantee that if you touch it, move it or freeze it, he’ll come looking for you. It’s his. It’s who he is.”
Cate stared at Marcus.
