Ethan Found a Frozen Backpack Hidden in the Garage — Then His Mother Saw the Name on the Travel Card
Chapter 6 — Martin Hale
Martin denied everything.
When investigators questioned him, he claimed Julia misunderstood the accounting system.
He said the continued payments were corrections and delayed reimbursements.
Detective Ortiz didn’t argue.
She simply asked Havenbrook for its original financial database.
Then something strange happened.
The server failed.
Several files became unavailable.
Martin called it an unfortunate technical problem.
Julia had anticipated that.
The flash drive from Locker 318 contained exported records from weeks earlier.
When investigators compared them, they found major differences.
Payments had been deleted from the active database after Julia disappeared.
Someone was cleaning the records.
But Martin wasn’t the only person with administrator access.
Three senior employees could modify the system.
Martin.
Finance director Olivia Cross.
And operations manager Peter Lane.
Claire knew all three.
She trusted Olivia most.
That trust lasted until Detective Ortiz showed her one email.
The message came from Olivia to Martin.
JULIA IS ASKING WHY THE CLOSED CASES ARE STILL DRAWING FUNDS.
Martin replied:
LET HER THINK IT’S A MIGRATION ISSUE. I’LL HANDLE IT.
Another email followed two days later.
SHE COPIED SOMETHING.
Then:
FIND OUT WHERE SHE PUT IT.
Claire’s hands began shaking.
“They knew.”
Ortiz nodded.
“At minimum, they knew she was investigating.”
Ethan had been listening from the doorway.
He asked the question nobody had answered yet.
“Where is Julia?”
Detective Ortiz looked toward him.
“We’re trying to find out.”
Then her phone rang.
Transit police had discovered something.
Julia’s travel card had been used after she disappeared.
