Chapter 7 - The Call from Compliance
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I answered the phone on the second ring, keeping my voice remarkably steady despite the chaotic adrenaline flooding my system.
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Mercer," a woman’s voice said immediately. She sounded breathless, highly caffeinated, but incredibly precise, like a woman who had just realized she was standing on a live landmine. "My name is Naomi Price. I am the Director of Corporate Compliance for Halcyon Medical. Am I speaking with Claire Mercer?"
"You are," I replied, staring out at the empty pharmacy parking lot.
"Mrs. Mercer, we received your email directly at the Chief Legal Officer's desk three minutes ago," Naomi said, her tone dead serious. "I need you to listen to me very carefully. Do not warn your husband that we called. Do not confront him, do not text him, and do not communicate with Ms. Vale."
"I have no intention of warning him, Ms. Price," I said, a grim, humorless smile touching my bruised face. "He is currently drinking champagne in my kitchen with your supplier."
Naomi exhaled sharply. "I need to confirm the authenticity of the photograph you submitted. Can you describe to me exactly what you saw, using only the context of the document in the image?"
I appreciated her immediate professionalism. She was establishing a clean chain of verbal evidence.
"I saw a blue folder stamped with Halcyon’s internal confidential seal," I recited perfectly. "It was open to page four of a vendor scoring sheet related to the upcoming forty-million-dollar surgical equipment bid. Dana Vale was sitting on the bed. Her engraved vendor badge was resting inches from the restricted documents."
I did not embellish the horrific assault. I did not detail the sickening crack of my finger or the heavy impact of his boot against my thigh. I did not have to. The financial crime was entirely enough to secure her undivided attention.
"Can you preserve the original image and all associated metadata?" Naomi asked, the urgency clear in her voice. "Our cyber forensics team will need to verify it hasn't been altered."
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"Yes," I answered confidently. "I’m a senior forensic accountant for a federal contractor. The evidence has already been mirrored to three secure servers with complete digital chain-of-custody logs."
For the first time that long, terrible night, silence worked entirely in my favor. I could practically hear Naomi Price smiling on the other end of the line.
